Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 May 24;10(11):2272.
doi: 10.3390/jcm10112272.

Decreased Muscle-to-Fat Mass Ratio Is Associated with Low Muscular Fitness and High Alanine Aminotransferase in Children and Adolescent Boys in Organized Sports Clubs

Kai Ushio  1   2 , Yukio Mikami  1   3 , Hiromune Obayashi  2 , Hironori Fujishita  2 , Kouki Fukuhara  2 , Tetsuhiko Sakamitsu  2 , Kazuhiko Hirata  2 , Yasunari Ikuta  2   4 , Hiroaki Kimura  1   2 , Nobuo Adachi  2   4
Affiliations

Decreased Muscle-to-Fat Mass Ratio Is Associated with Low Muscular Fitness and High Alanine Aminotransferase in Children and Adolescent Boys in Organized Sports Clubs

Kai Ushio et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Decreased muscle-to-fat mass ratio (MFR) is associated with pediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and may reduce muscular fitness. Regular exercise in sports clubs has not led to reductions in obesity in children and adolescents; they may have decreased MFR. Decreased MFR could cause reduced muscular fitness, which may put them at risk for NAFLD development. We investigated whether MFR is related to muscular fitness and serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), to determine whether MFR could be used to screen for NAFLD in children and adolescent boys belonging to sports clubs. Altogether, 113 participants (aged 7-17 years) who underwent body composition, laboratory, and muscular fitness measurements during a medical checkup were divided into tertiles according to their MFR. Lower extremity muscular fitness values were significantly decreased in the lowest MFR tertile (p < 0.001); conversely, serum ALT levels were significantly increased (p < 0.01). Decreased MFR significantly increased the risk of elevated ALT, which requires screening for NAFLD, after adjusting for age, obesity, muscular fitness parameters, and metabolic risk factors (odds ratio = 8.53, 95% confidence interval = 1.60-45.6, p = 0.012). Physical fitness and body composition assessments, focusing on MFR, can be useful in improving performance and screening for NAFLD in children and adolescents exercising in sports clubs.

Keywords: exercise; muscle to fat mass ratio; muscular fitness; pediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; sports clubs.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Inclusion and exclusion of participants.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The differences among the tertiles of skeletal muscle-to-fat mass ratio in skeletal muscle mass (a), skeletal muscle mass/weight (b), fat mass (c), and fat mass/weight (d). *** p < 0.001.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The differences among the tertiles of muscle-to-fat mass ratio in hand grip (a), knee extension force (b), knee flexion force (c), squat jump (d), and counter movement jump (e). ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The differences among the tertiles of muscle-to-fat mass ratio in levels of aspartate aminotransferase (a), alanine aminotransferase (b), gamma-glutamyl transferase (c), fasting blood glucose (d), triglyceride (e), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (f). * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Smith J.J., Eather N., Morgan P.J., Plotnikoff R.C., Faigenbaum A.D., Lubans D.R. The health benefits of muscular fitness for children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Med. 2014;44:1209–1223. doi: 10.1007/s40279-014-0196-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Garcia-Pastor T., Salinero J.J., Sanz-Frias D., Pertusa G., Del C.J. Body fat percentage is more associated with low physical fitness than with sedentarism and diet in male and female adolescents. Physiol. Behav. 2016;165:166–172. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.07.016. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Glinkowska B., Glinkowski W.M. Association of sports and physical activity with obesity among teenagers in Poland. Int. J. Occup. Med. Environ. Health. 2018;31:771–782. doi: 10.13075/ijomeh.1896.01170. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pérez-Bey A., Segura-Jiménez V., Fernández-Santos J.D.R., Esteban-Cornejo I., Gómez-Martínez S., Veiga O.L., Marcos A., Castro-Piñero J. The Role of Adiposity in the Association between Muscular Fitness and Cardiovascular Disease. J. Pediatr. 2018;199:178–185.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.03.071. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Higgins V., Omidi A., Tahmasebi H., Asgari S., Gordanifar K., Nieuwesteeg M., Adeli K. Marked Influence of Adiposity on Laboratory Biomarkers in a Healthy Cohort of Children and Adolescents. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 2020;105:e1781–e1797. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgz161. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources