Why blood flow in muscles matters for sugar control
Muscle microvascular blood flow responses in insulin resistance and ageing
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Insulin helps sugar get into muscles by opening up tiny blood vessels. If those vessels don’t respond well, sugar doesn’t get in properly, which can lead to diabetes.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
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Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
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Evidence Score
Based on clinical experience or non-systematic literature reviews. The lowest level of evidence as they are most susceptible to bias and personal perspective.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Insulin helps sugar get into muscles by opening up tiny blood vessels. If those vessels don’t respond well, sugar doesn’t get in properly, which can lead to diabetes.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 52 / 5
Evidence Score
Based on clinical experience or non-systematic literature reviews. The lowest level of evidence as they are most susceptible to bias and personal perspective.
Publication
Authors
Keske MA, Premilovac D, Bradley EA, Dwyer RM, Richards SM, Rattigan S
Related Content
Claims (5)
Insulin helps open up blood vessels in your muscles, letting more blood through so nutrients like creatine can get to the muscle cells more easily.
When the tiny blood vessels in muscles don't respond well to insulin, it's linked to being overweight, having insulin resistance, and getting older — and this might actually happen before the muscle cells themselves become resistant to insulin.
In rats, eating a diet that's a bit high in fat or salt messes up blood vessel function in muscles before the muscle cells themselves become resistant to insulin — and that blood vessel problem alone can slow down how much sugar the muscles take in.
Insulin helps more blood flow to muscles in rats and people by using a substance called nitric oxide, which helps sugar get into muscle cells better.
When mice have a broken insulin signal in their blood vessel lining, their muscles don’t get enough sugar—even if the muscle cells themselves work fine—because the blood flow to the muscles drops.