Evidence mapPaperPMID 40576707Full record

SynthesisSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2025

Effects of Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy on Fat Mass and Glucose Homeostasis in Humans and Animals: A Narrative Review with Systematic Literature Search.

Tim Havers, Steffen Held, Martin Schönfelder, Stephan Geisler, Henning Wackerhage

Abstract readSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Review
  11. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Tim HaversExercise Biology Group, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany. thavers@ist-hochschule.de.ORCID 0009-0006-1804-1611
Steffen HeldDepartment of Sport and Management, IST University of Applied Sciences, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Martin SchönfelderExercise Biology Group, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Stephan GeislerDepartment of Fitness and Health, IST-University of Applied Sciences, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Henning WackerhageExercise Biology Group, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Overweight, obesity, and type 2 diabetes mellitus are metabolic health problems and diseases that affect billions of people worldwide. Studies in animals and humans suggest that stimulating global muscle hypertrophy could be a treatment for these diseases, as some key studies suggest that stimulation of global muscle hypertrophy commonly reduces fat mass and improves glucose homeostasis. To analyse the effect of muscle hypertrophy on fat and glucose homeostasis in more detail, we systematically searched the literature and quantitatively analyzed 122 studies (humans: n = 99; animals: n = 23). This analysis reveals that a 1.9-3.3% increase in global muscle mass in humans is associated with 4.1 ± 5.8% lower fat mass, a mean relative reduction in HbA1c of 4.1 ± 4.6% from baseline, and a reduction of fasting glucose concentrations by 5.8 ± 7.3% in studies lasting 2 weeks to 3 years. In the animal studies analyzed, the researchers increased muscle mass by transgenesis, drugs, or resistance training by 17.7 ± 18.4%. This increase of muscle mass was associated with 23.7 ± 22.3% less fat mass. In the second part of this review, we discuss mechanisms by which muscle hypertrophy can affect fat mass and glucose homeostasis. We also discuss the potential use of hypertrophy-focused resistance training and muscle hypertrophy-stimulating drugs as treatments for people with overweight, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.

Indexed as

Adipose TissueBlood GlucoseGlucoseHomeostasisMuscle, SkeletalSkeletal Muscle EnlargementAnimalsDiabetes Mellitus, Type 2Glycated HemoglobinHumansHypertrophyObesityResistance TrainingBlood GlucoseGlucoseGlycated Hemoglobin

Identifiers

PMID40576707
PMCPMC12460530

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.