A diet low on sugar may help keep our muscles healthier for longer, suggests a study. Healthy muscles are an important part of a healthy life. With the wear and tear of everyday use, our muscles continuously repair themselves to keep them in top condition.

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University in Japan found that skeletal muscle satellite cells, key for muscle repair, rapidly increases in low glucose environments. They produced pure cultures of skeletal muscle satellite cells in ultra-low glucose environments.

This is contrary to the conventional wisdom that says mammalian cells fare better when there is more sugar to fuel their activities. The findings, published in the Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, have the potential to boost biomedical research on muscle repair.

For the study, skeletal muscle satellite cells were multiplied in Petri dishes. While higher levels of glucose had an adverse effect on the cells, lower glucose led to a larger number of cells.

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This seemed counterintuitive as glucose is considered to be essential for cellular growth, the researchers said. It is converted into ATP, the fuel that drives a lot of cellular activity. The team added glucose oxidase, a glucose digesting enzyme, to get to even lower levels of glucose, and grew the satellite cells in this glucose-depleted medium. Shockingly, the cells seemed to fare just fine, and proliferated normally, the researchers said. (IANS/JC)