Weight loss may not be the key to a long life

You might be thinking if I could just lose weight everything would be better. But have you ever wondered,”Why” with almost every article about diabetes, heart disease, etc. there is some emphasis about exercise. Most of us would prefer a magic diet pill. The bad news is so many companies know this and it always seems like the television is flooded with the next, great pill. The girls and guys featured always go from fat to flat thanks to a simple pill.

Unfortunately we stress diet  too much and exercise is getting left at the starting gate. This trend is not a good one, and it may become more worrisome for America’s Health Care System if we don’t start stressing exercise instead of just weight loss. A study published in Circulation, “Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study” looked at more than 14,000 men with a mean age of 44 and followed them for more than 11 years. [1]Compared with men who didn’t exercise and who lost fitness, men who maintained their fitness level had, on average, a 30% lower death rate.  The conclusion from the study stated that, “maintaining or improving fitness is associated with a lower risk of all-cause and CVD mortality in men. Preventing age-associated fitness loss is important for longevity regardless of BMI change.” [2]The study clearly points out that we must exercise to truly prolong life and to stay fit. Our nation has the highest prevalence of obesity and diabetes. We also rank the highest mortality rate from lung disease, and the second highest death rate from heart disease. Finally, deaths before age 50 are to blame for two thirds of the lifespan discrepancies for men and one third of the lifespan discrepancies for women between the United States and other countries.[3]

A second study conducted between 2003 and 2006 involved 222 children from 15 schools.  They all met the CDC definition for obesity.  In addition they exercised less than 1 hour per week. The children were placed into three groups. One group received 20 minutes of low dose exercise per day. A second group received 40 minutes of exercise per day and the third group received no exercise. The parents of the children were all offered life style modification classes.  Upon enrolling students into the study and within 1-3 days after the end of the 13-week study, insulin resistance, overall adiposity, visceral adiposity, aerobic fitness, and fasting blood glucose were assessed.[4] The results showed that the groups that received exercise showed significant resistance in insulin resistance. “The investigators concluded that daily aerobic exercise without dietary restrictions achieves a dose-response benefit on glucose tolerance and fasting insulin levels.”

No matter how hard we might try or how much we want to emphasize losing weight exercise must be part of our daily lives. We cannot ignore this in our schools where physical education is often cut from budgets or in our daily lives. No magic pill is going to give us the answer, instead exercise is the key to a healthy life.