New Study Points To Inactivity And Troublesome Layer Of Fat

Exercise Can Reduce This Extra Layer

A sedentary lifestyle leads to a buildup of dangerous levels of fat deep within the belly, increasing the risk of heart disease and other conditions.

That is the conclusion of a new study by Duke University Medical Center researchers. They say this "visceral fat" accumulates at a surprisingly quick rate around organs and deeper in the body than subcutaneous fat, which lies under the skin.

On the upside, the researchers found that months of regular, moderate exercise can prevent the build-up of visceral fat, while vigorous exercise can significantly reduce levels of such fat.

The Duke researchers reported the study at the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) annual meeting. The study is part of a five-year Duke trial on the effects of exercise, funded by a grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

Study Finds High Cost for Inactivity

Researchers followed 170 overweight men and women aged 40 to 65 for about eight months. The researchers divided participants into four groups.

One group did no exercise. The other three groups were classified based on a weekly exercise regimen equivalent to about 11 miles of walking, 11 miles of jogging, or 17 miles of jogging.

Lack of any exercise led to significant increases in visceral fat, the researchers found.

"This finding emphasizes the high cost of continued physical inactivity for sedentary, overweight adults," they wrote.

Dr. William Kraus, a Duke cardiologist who led the exercise trial, offers simple advice to counter the buildup of visceral fat.

"Get out and do something; don't sit," says Dr. Kraus, an associate professor at Duke's medical center. "Being sedentary is very bad for your health."

It is even worse than researchers had previously realized, adds Dr. Kraus. "The most striking result was how bad the sedentary people got over eight months," he says.

Dr. Gerald Fletcher, a professor of medicine and director of preventive cardiology at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., says the study illustrates well the "vicious syndrome" that results from visceral abdominal fat.

Dr. Fletcher, also a spokesman for the American Heart Association (AHA), says visceral fat buildup increases the risk of high blood pressure, blood clotting, elevated levels of "bad" cholesterol, and insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes.

Get Out, Get Moving

"I'm just hoping this study will motivate our obese public to do things we've been preaching for years," Dr. Fletcher says. "We looked at all ways to treat [visceral fat buildup], and the best way is physical activity."

Even elderly patients who had been sedentary can benefit greatly from moderate exercise, he says.

In the Duke study, for participants who did not exercise, visceral fat increased an average of 8.6 percent. Such fat decreased an average of 8.1 percent among those who jogged about 17 miles each week.

Those in the two less-intensive exercise groups had no significant increase in visceral fat, demonstrating the preventive role of moderate exercise.

Men who did not exercise averaged a 1.5 percent overall weight gain; women, 0.6 percent. However, women averaged an 11.6 percent increase in visceral fat, more than twice that of men (5.7 percent). Researchers say determining why would require further study.

Participants exercised on treadmills, elliptical trainers, or cycle ergometers in a supervised setting, and nobody changed their diet during the study.

Always consult your physician for a diagnosis.

Online Resources

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American College of Sports Medicine

American Heart Association

American Lung Association

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

HealthierUS.Gov

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

National Cancer Institute (NCI) Eat 5 to 9 A Day

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

National Women's Health Information Center

July 2003

New Study Points To Inactivity And Troublesome Layer Of Fat

Study Finds High Cost for Inactivity

Get Out, Get Moving

Women Benefit More from Quitting Smoking than Men

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Quality of Life

Online Resources

Women Benefit More from Quitting Smoking than Men

New findings from the Lung Health Study (LHS) indicate that, in general, women's lung function improves significantly more than men's after sustained smoking cessation.

LHS researchers previously published results showing that both men and women benefit from smoking cessation; this new analysis indicates that the benefits to the lungs are greater in women than in men. The results are published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the study followed more than 5,300 middle-aged smokers for five years.

All participants had mild or moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

In the first year after quitting, women's lung function improved more than twice that of the men's. Among those who quit, improved lung function remained greater for women than for men throughout the study, although the differences between the genders narrowed over time.

The decline in lung function in those who continued to smoke was on average similar for men and women.

Cigarette smoking is a leading cause of COPD, a slowly progressive disease of the lung that is characterized by a gradual loss of lung function.

COPD is the fourth most common and the most rapidly increasing cause of death in the US. Emphysema, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive bronchitis, or a combination of emphysema and chronic bronchitis are forms of COPD.

Always consult your physician for a diagnosis.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Quality of Life

The goals of COPD rehabilitation programs include helping a person return to the highest level of function and independence possible, while improving the overall quality of life - physically, emotionally, and socially.

Attaining these goals help people with COPD live more comfortably by improving endurance, providing relief of symptoms, and preventing progression of the disease with minimal side effects.

In order to reach these goals, COPD rehabilitation programs may include the following:

Always consult your physician for a diagnosis.