Effects of Muscle Loss

Muscle plays a number of roles in maintaining health. Not only are muscles critical to posture, balance, and movement, but they maintain healthy bones by putting a physical stress across the bones. Hormonal therapies often used in men with advancing prostate cancer can have a detrimental effect on muscle, leading to muscle atrophy or wasting. Thus, with muscle loss from aging, inactivity, and hormonal therapies, the bones become more brittle and the loss of balance can lead to bone fractures.

In addition, the loss of muscle can undermine a potential mechanism to alleviate insulin resistance. The uptake of sugars into the muscle can occur via a process that is independent of insulin. Therefore, in men with metabolic syndrome, the loss of muscle mass precludes their ability to effectively control blood sugar control and overcome insulin resistance through exercise.