Recently published study has attracted wide media attention thanks to the claim that, if you want to live a long time, more important to be physically active than to be the perfect body weight. Lead author was Ulf Ekelund (U Cambridge) and study is published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Data comes form a huge pan-European study (EPIC) that has been underway for 13 years. It has followed the fortunes of over 300,000 middle-aged people and noted when anyone died.
All the participants had their weight and height measured and filled in a physical activity questionnaire. It is now possible to look with some precision at mortality of people with different degrees of fatness and with different levels of activity.
Two findings are of particular importance
1. No matter how fat you are, it helps to be active
Results on this are shown in the diagram below
All the participants had their weight and height measured and filled in a physical activity questionnaire. It is now possible to look with some precision at mortality of people with different degrees of fatness and with different levels of activity.
Two findings are of particular importance
1. No matter how fat you are, it helps to be active
Results on this are shown in the diagram below
Note what is plotted here is hazard ratio (risk of dying) relative to an inactive individual. So each "inactive" bar is the same (ratio of 1). But of course obese individuals are a bit more likely to die early than non-obese, so take that into account. What the authors are keen to show is that, however fat you are, it is worth being active.
2. Being active is twice as important as being the "correct" body weight
The data is plotted in the second figure, shown below.
2. Being active is twice as important as being the "correct" body weight
The data is plotted in the second figure, shown below.
Unlike the first diagram, here the higher the bar, the better. What is plotted is the Population Attributable Fraction. This is the proportion of deaths attributable to a particular factor. In the EPIC data, it is clear that being inactive contributes more deaths, roughly twice as many, as not being obese.
The EPIC data does not tell us anything particularly new. We have known from smaller studies for a long time that physical activity is good for longevity (and for quality of life during those longer years). We also knew that body weight was less important, indeed some studies showed almost no effect of body weight on mortality. The good thing about this study is that (a) it is huge and used a real cross-section of European populations and (b) the key variables were examined together in a well-designed study.
And this study has been widely and accurately reported, emphasising the major importance of physical activity for public health. And we know, the best way to get people more active is active travel. And the most time efficient mode of active travel is cycling.
The EPIC data does not tell us anything particularly new. We have known from smaller studies for a long time that physical activity is good for longevity (and for quality of life during those longer years). We also knew that body weight was less important, indeed some studies showed almost no effect of body weight on mortality. The good thing about this study is that (a) it is huge and used a real cross-section of European populations and (b) the key variables were examined together in a well-designed study.
And this study has been widely and accurately reported, emphasising the major importance of physical activity for public health. And we know, the best way to get people more active is active travel. And the most time efficient mode of active travel is cycling.