Inactivity worse than obesity in Europe

Friday January 16th, 2015

Europeans are suffering more from lack of fitness than from obesity, researchers claimed yesterday.

Unfitness is responsible for twice as many deaths as obesity, according to the results of a study involving more than 334,000 Europeans.

A single walk of 20 minutes a day would be enough for many people to make a huge difference to their health, according to the Cambridge University researchers.

The study found that the single biggest reduction in death rates came from people moving from being inactive to just "moderately inactive."

Writing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, they say that 676,000 deaths a year across Europe could be caused by physical inactivity compared with 337,000 linked to obesity.

They suggest the 20 minute daily walk could reduce the risk of premature death from 30% to 16% for the inactive.

Researcher Professor Ulf Ekelund said: "This is a simple message: just a small amount of physical activity each day could have substantial health benefits for people who are physically inactive.

"Although we found that just 20 minutes would make a difference, we should really be looking to do more than this - physical activity has many proven health benefits and should be an important part of our daily life."

June Davison, of the British Heart Foundation, said: “The results of this study are a clear reminder that being regularly physically active can reduce the risk of dying from coronary heart disease."

“The research suggests that just a modest increase in physical activity can have health benefits."

Ulf Ekelund et al. Physical activity and all-cause mortality across levels of overall and abdominal adiposity in European men and women: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Study (EPIC). American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 14 January 2015; doi: 10.3945/ajcn.114.100065

Tags: Diet & Food | Europe | Fitness | UK News

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