The phrase “men and women are different” is not only reflected in appearance: the human bodies of different genders also respond differently to unhealthy lifestyles. Studies have found that prolonged sitting and high-sugar diets are more harmful for men than for women in the short term.
Prolonged Sitting and High-Sugar Diets Hurt Men More in the Short Term
What happens when people reduce their step count from 10,000 to 5,000 steps a day and drink six cans of sugary drinks for 10 days?In a new study published in the medical journal Endocrinology, 36 healthy young men and women who participated in the experiment followed the diet and the activity mentioned above. After 10 days, only the men experienced insulin resistance and a drop in a hormone called adropin from high-sugar drinks and a sedentary lifestyle.
The conclusion of the study is that there is a gender difference in the development of insulin resistance caused by a high-sugar diet combined with a low-exercise lifestyle: men are more likely to be affected by this adverse lifestyle than women.
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Insulin is one of the hormones that affect blood sugar. Insulin resistance refers to when the glucose-lowering effect of the original insulin concentration becomes less effective, which is a characteristic of Type 2 diabetes.
Adropin is mainly secreted by the brain and liver, but it can also be produced in peripheral tissues such as the heart and gastrointestinal tract. Adropin has many functions, including regulation of body weight, glucose, and lipid homeostasis, as well as maintenance of cardiovascular system functions. Obesity, aging, and insulin resistance can all reduce adropin levels.
Neng Chun Yu, director of Neng-Chun Diabetes Clinic in Taiwan, pointed out that adropin is affected by estrogen in women, and young women can secrete more adropin as their estrogen secretion is relatively strong. However, young women will also develop insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes if they do not maintain a healthy diet and engage in physical activity as part of their daily lives.
In his outpatient clinic, there are 10 and 12-year-old girls who gained weight due to unhealthy lifestyles and eventually developed Type 2 diabetes at a young age.
Neng Chun Yu also observed that there are more men with diabetes before the age of 55, but the proportion of women with diabetes after the age of 55 is higher than that of men. He pointed out that the development of a healthy lifestyle should start at a young age.
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Shiow-Chwen Tsai, a professor at the Institute of Sports Sciences, University of Taipei, also said that women should not drink too many sweetened beverages, because artificial sweeteners can also cause uterine hypercontraction.
A study from Taiwan found that Acesulfame Potassium (Ace K) could increase intrauterine pressure and oxytocin-induced contractions after two months of continuous administration of the artificial sweetener Acesulfame Potassium (equivalent to the sweetener dose of two cans of Coke Zero per day) to pregnant mice. Hypercontraction of the uterus can increase the risk of premature birth, as well as lead to endometriosis and dysmenorrhea.
Tsai warned that many beverages nowadays do not contain real sugar, but high fructose syrup or sweeteners.
Fat Distribution in Men Predisposes Them to Insulin Resistance
It has been found that men and women are truly different. Young women are protected by estrogen, so the incidence of cardiovascular disease before menopause is much lower than that of men. However, women have a higher incidence of osteoporosis than men after menopause.There are also differences between men and women in problems such as obesity and metabolic syndrome, which are common in modern people.
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Tsai said that men and women have different fat distributions in their bodies. Most of the body fat in men is concentrated in the abdomen, so men have more visceral fat; while women have more subcutaneous fat.
Abdominal obesity is considered to be the main risk factor for metabolic syndrome, and insulin resistance is significantly associated with the degree of abdominal obesity.
A German study published in the scientific journal Biology of Sex Differences in 2022 pointed out that men’s abdominal obesity markers, such as waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio, are higher than women’s, despite a similar Body Mass Index (BMI). The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in obese people is 67.6 percent in men, which is higher than the 45 percent in women.
In addition to storing energy, human body fat also secretes important hormones, including adiponectin and leptin. Adiponectin improves insulin sensitivity and glycemic control, while leptin suppresses appetite. Generally, women have significantly higher levels of adiponectin and leptin than men.
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In any case, men should not be discouraged by this. Tsai pointed out that men with the same weight training can gain muscle faster and can build more visible muscle definition. Men also can handle heavier loads when doing weight training as they have a higher androgen level and bone mass than women. Besides, men have more fast-twitch muscles, so explosive training is more effective.
Increasing muscles helps to burn fat, and muscles can also regulate glucose homeostasis in the body: 80 percent of the glucose in the blood is extracted and utilized by muscles.
Fat Loss Helps Regulate Blood Sugar Levels
Insulin resistance has become a common condition, and people with insulin resistance are generally accompanied by obesity. Neng Chun Yu and his research team found that “losing fat is three times as effective in regulating blood sugar level as gaining muscles.”If you want to treat insulin resistance and obesity by losing fat, exercise is the best way. However, diseases are generally progressive—it will take a certain amount of time to reverse them. Regardless, there will always be changes in the body if immediate action is taken and positive changes are made. It takes half a year to a year, or even two years, to achieve a normal blood sugar level and fat loss through exercise; after the reversal, efforts must be made to maintain healthy indicators.
As a start, people can adjust by reducing sedentary time and increasing walking steps. However, walking alone is not enough, so it needs to be combined with weight training and aerobic exercise.
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Body muscle mass decreases with age, but strength training can build muscles. Tsai pointed out that women have more slow-twitch muscles, which are more suitable for long-distance and high-repetition strength training. For example, increasing repetitions, rather than increasing the weight of dumbbells, is more beneficial for women to build muscles.
Aerobic exercise can increase adropin. Extending the duration of aerobic exercise can help maintain good metabolism, lower fat, and improve body posture and glucose metabolism.
Neng Chun Yu suggested that the time ratio of aerobic exercise and weight training should be at least 2:1, and it is best to increase a certain intensity every two weeks, regardless of the type of exercise.
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