Weight vs. Fitness

Health information keeps changing rapidly these days. Recently (Dec 5) JAMA has said that fitness is more important than body fat.

Adults over age 60 with higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness lived longer than unfit adults regardless of their levels of body fat.

Xuemei Sui, M.D., of the University of South Carolina, Columbia, and colleagues examined the relationships between cardiorespiratory fitness, a variety of clinical measures of body fat and death in older women and men.

This study included 2,603 adults age 60 years or older (the average age was 64.4 years; 19.8 percent women) enrolled in the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study and completed a baseline health examination during 1979-2001. A treadmill exercise test was used to assess fitness and body fat was measured by body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and percent body fat. Low fitness was defined as the lowest fifth of the sex-specific distribution of treadmill exercise test duration. During an average follow-up of 12 years, there were 450 deaths.

It was noted that those who died were older, had lower fitness levels, and had more cardiovascular risk factors than survivors. However, there were no significant differences in body fat measures.

Higher fitness groups were for the most part less likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as hypertension, diabetes, or high cholesterol levels. Fit participants had lower death rates than unfit participants within each stratum of body fat, except for two of the obesity groups. In most instances, death rates for those with higher fitness were less than half of rates for those who were unfit.

Higher levels of fitness were inversely related to all-cause death in both normal-weight and overweight BMI subgroups, in those with a normal waist circumference and in those with abdominal obesity, and in those who have normal percent body fat and those who have excessive percent body fat.

“… we observed that fit individuals who were obese (such as those with BMI of 30.0-34.9, abdominal obesity, or excessive percent body fat) had a lower risk of all-cause mortality than did unfit, normal-weight, or lean individuals. Our data therefore suggest that fitness levels in older individuals influence the association of obesity to mortality,” the authors write.

“Our data provide further evidence regarding the complex long-term relationship among fitness, body size, and survival. It may be possible to reduce all-cause death rates among older adults, including those who are obese, by promoting regular physical activity, such as brisk walking for 30 minutes or more on most days of the week (about 8 kcal/kg per week), which will keep most individuals out of the low-fitness category. Enhancing functional capacity also should allow older adults to achieve a healthy lifestyle and to enjoy longer life in better health.”

The above information further confirms what we have all been thinking...we have to find ways on a daily basis to include some form of exercise into our schedules.
Keep a DVD ready to go in your DVD player, keep a couple of hand weights readily available or test yourself every day to see how long you can jump rope, do the hoola hoop or shoot baskets. Make it fun, spontaneous and part of your daily life.
Have Fun Every Day,
Cecelia
http://www.myfitness24-7.com/