Weight training has been proven to strengthen and increase muscle mass, but TIME reports that it may also help reduce your diabetes risk.

When you lift weights, you're basically exercising your red muscle, which is powered by the mitochondria, your cells’ energy center. Training your red muscle builds strength and endurance, which can help you last longer during workouts. However, researchers say that there is another muscle more prevalent in people who perform activities that require sudden bursts energy such as sprinting and powerlifting. The white muscle, as it turns out, is responsible for providing you with momentary power; it is also what researchers now think of as a possible solution for blood sugar regulation.

While many scientists are wary about the white muscle's association with insulin resistance, researchers from the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan counter that white muscle may actually help maintain healthy levels of blood glucose.

In laboratory experiments with mice, experts found that developing white muscles may actually help protect the body from the effects of unhealthy fatty diets. Author Jiandie Lin explains, "What our study highlights is that having more white muscle per se is not deleterious. When we activate the white muscle program in mice through transgene, we observed that the mice are protected from fatty diet-induced metabolic disorders. They have a better ability to control blood glucose levels."

This study highlights the importance of exercise in keeping your sugar in check. Aside from endurance training, you may want to add a bit of weight lifting to your workout mix. Not only will this help tone and define your curves, but it may also keep you protected from the possibility of diabetes.

(Photo by tableatny via Flickr Creative Commons)