News :
Get Fit to Fight Metabolic Syndrome
HEALTH DAY NEWS, July 11 2005 -- A long-term study shows
once again that "couch potatoes" are at high risk of metabolic
syndrome, a cluster of risk factors that encourages cardiovascular disease
and diabetes.
Men who scored highest on a treadmill test of physical
fitness were 53 percent less likely to develop metabolic system than
those who scored lowest, according to the report, published in the July
12 issue of Circulation. Even moderate fitness reduced men's risk by
26 percent, the researchers said.
In women, the risk of metabolic syndrome was 63 percent
lower for those who were highly fit, and 20 percent lower for those
who were moderately fit.
The report comes from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal
Study, in which researchers at the Cooper Institute, in Dallas, tracked
more than 9,000 men and nearly 1,500 women for nearly six years.
During that period, 1,346 men and 56 women developed metabolic
syndrome, whose components include obesity, high blood pressure, low
blood levels of "good" HDL cholesterol, as well as elevated
blood levels of fats called triglycerides and blood sugar. The presence
of three or more of those risk factors is associated with an increased
risk of diabetes and cardiovascular problems such as heart attack and
stroke, experts say.
It's not difficult to reduce that risk, however, said study
author Michael J. LaMonte, director of the Cooper Institute's epidemiology
division.
"Although genetics contribute to individual fitness
levels, previously published data indicate that most people can achieve
moderate levels of cardiovascular fitness through 30 to 40 minutes of
brisk walking about five days per week," LaMonte said in a prepared
statement. "The highest level of fitness is likely to be achieved
through vigorous jogging, running, biking or swimming for 20 to 30 minutes
a day about three to five days a week."
The study has a couple of unique features, LaMonte added
in an interview. "There hasn't been a lot of data about people
developing metabolic syndrome," he said. "At most, there have
been half a dozen. And those studies have relied on self-reporting to
assess level of activity. There's a lot of room for error there."
"We put people on treadmills, which is a pretty strong
way of clarifying a person's level of activity," he said. "The
treadmill doesn't lie."
The study "has implications not only for future cardiovascular
events, but also for developing metabolic problems," said Dr. Jorge
Plutzky, director of vascular disease prevention at Brigham and Women's
Hospital in Boston and a spokesman for the American Heart Association.
The results strengthen the growing belief that "diabetes
and cardiovascular events are closely related," Plutzky said. "They
are more and more tied together. The study also shows that activity
and exercise can help prevent metabolic syndrome."
"Promoting higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness
through greater physical activity may be the most prudent clinical and
public health strategy for the primary prevention of metabolic syndrome,"
according to LaMonte.
(source : www.forbes.com)
