Exercise aids weight control in middle age
Wednesday March 24th, 2010
By Jane Collingwood
Women need to do an hour of moderate-intensity exercise per day to avoid
gaining weight with age, researchers reported last night.
This is the conclusion of a recent study of 34,079 healthy US women eating a normal diet and with a mean age of 54 years. They were followed for 13 years.
Overall,
the women gained about 5.7 lbs. Those who did an hour of exercise each
day gained two to three fewer pounds. However, this only applied to normal
weight women. Those who were overweight at the start were not protected
from weight gain by exercise.
Findings appear in The Journal of the American Medical Association. The researchers were led by Dr I-Min Lee of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, USA.
They write: "Because the average US adult gains weight with age, developing ways to prevent unhealthful weight gain would help them avoid having to lose weight and then trying to maintain that loss.
"Compared with the vast body of research on the treatment of overweight and obese individuals, little research exists on preventing weight gain. The amount of physical activity needed to prevent long-term weight gain is unclear."
This study found "an inverse dose-response relation between activity levels and weight gain among women with a body mass index of less than 25 but no relation among women with a body mass index of 25 or higher".
The researchers add that the US government recommendation of 150 minutes exercise per week, "while clearly sufficient to lower the risks of chronic diseases, is insufficient for weight gain prevention".
Nevertheless, the two to three pound difference found in this study would only cause a minority of normal weight women to become overweight.
Lee, I. et al. Physical Activity and Weight Gain Prevention. The Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 303, March 24, 2010, pp. 1173-79.
Tags: Fitness | North America | Women’s Health & Gynaecology
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