Blog

Sept 25

As of this past Tuesday, it is officially Fall, which means the fourth quarter of 2026 is only days away, and temperatures in many places will begin to cool. For those in areas where cool eventually becomes cold, using the next 90 days to prepare, ready, or otherwise "winterize" will undoubtedly creep toward the top of the priority list. For some, that might mean winding down the garden or enjoying seasonal colors while knowing that the transition from mowing to raking is right around the corner. For others, it might mean it's nearly time for the annual face-off with the snowblower to see if this is the year it will start without a headache. This year, however, especially for those who equate the winter months with stiff and cranky joints, we hope it'll include choosing a FUEL strategy that increases the odds of pain-free movement all Winter long.

Over the years, we've used the pictures from this study to illustrate the benefit of chronic exercise. The differences between the cross-section images of the 70-year-old triathlete and the 74-year-old sedentary person are hard to miss. This study, published nearly a decade later, showed a very similar, but no less striking, pattern when comparing lifelong exercisers to healthy non-exercisers. It would be easy to conclude that whether we hike, bike, lift, or lunge, our loading patterns matter most if our goal is to keep the muscles lean and strong. Interestingly, however, the more we learn about the negative consequences of fatty infiltration in and around our skeletal muscle, clinically known as Myeosteatosis, (a term we introduced 2 weeks ago), which has been linked to knee osteoarthritis, the more we realize FUEL is a major factor. In that same blog on September 11th, we reviewed a new compound found in blueberries that helps muscle tissue biochemically burn (and not store) fat at the cellular level. We suggested that this might further explain why blueberries appear to have a role in preventing knee pain. This week, however, the case gets even stronger.

New research from a University of California team showed a clear linkage on the other end of the FUEL quality spectrum. After assessing both the muscle quality and dietary patterns of more than 600 individuals at risk of developing osteoarthritis, the team found a strong association between ultra-processed food consumption and fatty infiltration (streaks) in the thigh muscles. Even after statistically controlling for total calories, BMI, waist circumference, and other metabolic health variables, the connection remained: the more ultra-processed the diet, the fattier the thigh muscles and thus the greater the risk for knee OA.

While fatty streaks in the arteries may help explain why every burger, bologna sandwich, and beer takes hours off our lives, as described in this 2022 video, it shouldn't surprise us that those same streaks, when in the muscles, can leave us hurting and less mobile. The good news, as shown in this small randomized controlled trial, is that even after surgery, knees recovered better when the same healthy compounds we get from fruits and veggies were added to resistance exercise. If healthy movement is part of your Winter plan, beets and barbells might be just right during the Fall.
 

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.