EASD 2026: How Movement, Food, and Body Composition Connect in Metabolic Health

Published in connection with EASD 2026 | September 28–October 2, 2026 | Milan

A walk, a meal, and a change in body weight may seem like separate events. Physiologically, they are connected. Contracting muscles increase their demand for fuel. Food supplies energy and nutrients. Over time, changes in intake and expenditure affect the body’s energy stores and composition.

The 62nd EASD Annual Meeting in Milan, September 28–October 2, 2026, brings together researchers and healthcare professionals working across diabetes research and care. The meeting provides an occasion to explore these connections through established research and clinical guidance.¹

Movement Changes How Muscle Handles Glucose

Skeletal muscle, the muscle that moves the body, is an important site of glucose uptake. During exercise, contracting muscles increase their use of glucose from the bloodstream to help meet their energy needs. This response involves signaling pathways that are partly distinct from those activated by insulin. Exercise-stimulated glucose uptake can remain effective even when the muscle’s response to insulin is impaired, helping explain the role of physical activity in diabetes management.²

Muscle therefore connects movement with metabolic regulation. Its ability to generate force supports everyday activities, while its uptake and use of glucose contribute to the way the body handles fuel. The American Diabetes Association’s 2026 guidance includes aerobic activity, resistance exercise, and breaking up prolonged sedentary time as parts of diabetes care. WHO guidance likewise recommends aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity and limiting sedentary behavior.^2,3,4

The immediate response to exercise still varies between people and situations. The underlying mechanism explains why activity can support glucose management; it does not mean that every workout produces an identical change in blood glucose.^2,3

Eating Patterns and Energy Balance Interact

Nutrition affects metabolic health through the quality and quantity of food consumed, as well as the eating patterns that shape both. A controlled inpatient trial illustrates one part of this relationship. Twenty adults completed two dietary periods in random order: two weeks on an ultra-processed diet and two weeks on an unprocessed diet. Participants could eat as much or as little as they wanted. During the ultra-processed period, they consumed approximately 500 more kilocalories per day on average than during the unprocessed period. They gained weight during the ultra-processed period and lost weight during the unprocessed period.^3,5

The trial demonstrated a difference between the two dietary patterns under controlled conditions. However, it was small and short-term. It does not establish the long-term effects of every food classified as ultra-processed or show that processing alone explains all differences in metabolic health.⁵

Energy balance provides another part of the explanation. Changes in the body’s stored energy reflect the difference between energy intake and expenditure. But these quantities can change over time: food intake, physical activity, body size, and physiological responses all influence the course of weight change.⁶

For example, energy expenditure can change as body weight changes. A fixed reduction in calorie intake therefore does not produce the same rate of weight loss indefinitely. Calculations that assume an unchanged daily energy requirement can give misleading long-term predictions.⁶

Eating patterns can influence how much energy people consume, while changing energy requirements affect what happens afterward. Both processes matter when interpreting weight change.^5,6

Weight Loss Can Involve Different Body Components

A scale records total body mass. It cannot distinguish a change in fat from a change in other body components. Fat-free mass includes more than skeletal muscle, and changes in body water can also affect weight. A short-term change on the scale should therefore not automatically be interpreted as fat gain or fat loss.⁶

The composition of weight loss matters because skeletal muscle contributes to glucose uptake, strength, and physical function. These roles make muscle an important consideration during weight management.^2,3,7

For people with diabetes undergoing obesity treatment, the ADA’s 2026 guidance highlights nutritional monitoring and preservation of lean mass. It recommends attention to protein intake alongside resistance training as part of that approach, adapted to the individual’s nutritional and clinical circumstances.⁷

Body composition and physical function also answer different questions. An estimate of tissue mass does not directly show how strong a person is or how well they can perform everyday tasks. Weight, body composition, and function can provide complementary information.^3,7

This gives nutrition and resistance exercise related roles: nutrition supplies energy and nutrients, while resistance exercise provides a stimulus for muscle strength and adaptation. Considering both helps keep weight management focused on health and function as well as kilograms lost.^3,7

Following the Path From Behavior to Physiology

These mechanisms make the connection between daily behavior and metabolic health more concrete. Movement changes how working muscle handles glucose. Eating patterns can influence energy intake. Weight loss changes body composition as well as total mass.

Understanding those processes helps explain why nutrition and activity are often considered together in diabetes care. Their effects meet in the same tissues and energy-regulating systems, even when each begins with a different daily action.