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This article is from the WebMD News Archive
Exercise May Be Better Than Diet for Heart
Nov. 7, 2003 -- People who exercise are less likely to die of heart disease -- even if they eat a lot, a new study shows.
But people who don't eat much don't cut their heart-death risk, the 17-year study suggests. The findings, from the huge National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), appear in the November issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Jing Fang, MD, of New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and colleagues sifted through data collected from nearly 10,000 people. They were 25 to 74 years old when the study began in 1971. Study participants reported details of their diets and also indicated their level of physical activity.
By the end of the study, some 1,500 study participants died of heart disease or stroke. Fang's team looked at whether how much people ate -- their total caloric intake -- was linked to their risk of heart death.
"We found that those who eat more have better survival than those who eat less," Fang tells WebMD. "When we controlled for exercise, it turns out that the important thing is physical activity. When people exercise more, they eat more -- and they are more healthy."
The Catch
It's an important study, says Jack V. Tu, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and head of the Canadian Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Team (CCORT).
"It suggests caloric intake is less important than physical activity," Tu tells WebMD. "That supports those of us who've been saying that exercise is better for you than dieting. It suggests that if you eat more and maintain ideal body weight, it's OK."
Maintain ideal body weight? Yes, that's the catch. Unfortunately, the findings don't mean that it's time to party at your favorite fast-food emporium.
"Of course, overweight and obese people are more likely to have heart disease," Fang says. "However, the people who eat the most also are the ones who exercise the most. So they are less likely to be obese. If people eat more, they usually will be more heavy, so this shows that exercise is very important. Because if they eat more and exercise more, they are less likely to die of heart disease."
Most Americans and Canadians follow only half of this advice. They love to eat but hate to move their butts.
"We want to encourage everyone we can to exercise," Tu says. "Having said that, we don't want people to go running out to McDonalds after they jog for 30 minutes. Doing that occasionally is fine. But you need balance. Some exercise, combined with moderate food intake, is the way to go."
Burn It Off
Still, Fang's study showed that the people who ate the most were also the people who exercised the most. Her finding shows that people who exercise change their metabolism, Tu says.
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