A high lean body mass is not protecting from type 2 diabetes in the presence of a high body fat mass.

Aim: Most studies examining the associations between body composition and type 2 diabetes have been cross-sectional with prevalent diabetes diagnosis or they have analyzed only fat or lean body mass. Hence, the combined effect of fat and lean body mass on the risk of developing type 2 diabetes remains unclear. We investigated whether baseline lean and fat body mass taken simultaneously into account are associated with incidence of type 2 diabetes over a 15-year follow-up in older adults.