Friday, June 18, 2010
Never Too Young for Chronic Disease Prevention through Fitness
From Tufts University
“Although cardiovascular disease and diabetes often surface much later in life, our results tell us that men and women in late adolescence and early adulthood are already showing chronic disease risk, but that keeping fit may help reduce this risk,” says senior author Jennifer M. Sacheck, PhD, assistant professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.
Researchers deemed body fat percentage above 23% in women and above 19% in men as higher than desirable and measured fitness based on performance on a 3-minute step test.
Physical fitness appeared to have a greater impact on certain metabolic risk factors than body fat. Being fit correlated with lower triglycerides and higher HDL, the healthy cholesterol, in women and lower blood glucose levels in men.
Read the full article here.
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