Health: Fitness More Important Than Fatness

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Hi y'all,

 

We hit on this in a previous discussion. Butch

 

Fitness Trumps Fatness in Longevity Study Wed Dec 5, 2007 3:30pm EST

 

By Will Dunham

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When it comes to living longer, fitness may trump

fatness, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

 

Men and women who were fit, as judged by a treadmill test, but were

overweight or obese had a lower mortality risk than those of normal weight

but low fitness levels, the study in the Journal of the American Medical

Association showed.

 

Exercise expert Steven Blair of the University of South Carolina and

colleagues tracked about 2,600 people age 60 and up, examining how physical

fitness and body fat affected their death rates over 12 years.

 

Those in the lowest fifth in terms of fitness had a death rate four times

higher than participants ranked in the top fifth for fitness.

 

" Being fit provides protection against mortality in these men and women 60

and older, whether they're normal weight, overweight or obese, " Blair said

in a telephone interview.

 

The findings are particularly relevant as people in the United States and

many other countries live increasingly sedentary lifestyles and obesity

rates remain high. At the same time, the populations are aging in many

nations.

 

" I believe we have an obesity epidemic. It's a bad sign. We should not

ignore obesity, " Blair said. " But what happens all too often is we focus

nearly exclusively on obesity and forget the activity and fitness part. "

Modest Effort Helps

 

The researchers assessed the fitness of the participants using a treadmill

test, seeing how long they could walk while the treadmill's incline

increased. They measured body mass index -- calculated from a person's

weight and height -- as well as waist circumference and body fat percentage.

 

The study showed that even a modest effort to improve physical activity can

provide health benefits, the researchers said. Those in the bottom fifth in

terms of fitness were about twice as likely to die than those in the next

fifth.

 

" You shouldn't be scared and think, 'Oh, I'm overweight, I'm obese, it's

useless for me to be physically active,' " Dr. Xuemei Sui, another University

of South Carolina researcher who worked on the study, said in a telephone

interview.

 

Drastic steps may not be needed, the researchers said.

 

" If you're overweight or obese and you're sedentary and unfit and you start

taking three 10-minute walks a day and you do that at least five days a

week, you're not going to lose an enormous amount of weight, " Blair said.

 

" You're going to still be heavy. But you're going to be much healthier if

you do that, " Blair said.

 

Blair also stressed the importance of a healthful diet including lots of

fruit, vegetables and whole grains.

 

More than a third of U.S. adults are obese, according to the U.S. Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention. Obesity is a major risk factor for

cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer and the most common form of

diabetes, the CDC said.

 

The CDC also has found that more than half of adults do not engage in

regular physical exercise. Exercise cuts the chances of dying of coronary

heart disease, as well as lowering the risk for stroke, colon cancer,

diabetes and high blood pressure, the CDC said.

 

(Editing by Maggie Fox and Eric Walsh)

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved