DIET5GETTY X
For decades, scientific debate has
raged about the role of exercise in
diet loss. Today, there is greater
scientif ic consensus that food int ake
is more important than exercise for
losing weight. But the debate goes on
about whether being fit mitigates the
health risks of being overweight.
Central to the controversy is
research from the Cooper Institute
for Preventive Medicine in Dallas,
which shows that over-60s who
exercise have lower mortality
regardless of how much body weight
they carry. American health
psychologist Dr Traci Mann, from the
University of Minnesota, is the most
prominent figure in asserting that
over weight people can live healthy
lives a s long a s they exercise.
Dr Mann says there is no evidence
that over weight people have shor ter
lifespans, there is just evidence that
people who are sedentary, poor and
medically neglected (who are also
often obese) live shorter lives.“Obesity only really leads to shorter
lifespans at the very highest weights.”
There is no point in dieting, she
claims. “ To reduce your risk for
cardiovascular disease and diabetes,
you don’t actually have to get thin,
you jus t have to exercise.”
But the ‘fat but fit’ camp has few
supporters in the UK, and the theory
has received a new setback from a
recent study of 3.5 million GP records
by the Univer sit y of Birmingham. It
found that ‘healthy’ obese people,
who had normal blood pressure and
cholesterol levels, were still at higher
risk of serious disease than healthy
people of normal weight. The obese
people had 49 per cent increased risk
of coronar y hear t disea se, 7 per cent
increased risk of stroke, and 96 per
cent increased risk of heart failure.Verdict: Obese people with healthy
blood pressure and cholesterol still
have an increa sed risk of hear t
problems and strokes.CAN YOU BE FAT AND FIT?
Intermittent fasting diets, such as the 5:2 diet,
revolve around eating what you want on some days
of the week and then very little on the others. But
are they more effective than other weight-loss
diets? The latest research suggests not.
A study published in an American Medical
Association journal in 2017 found that, after a year,
weight loss was not significantly different than for
daily calorie-restricted diet groups. Supporters of
fasting diets claim they provide health benefits
beyond weight loss. Indeed, animal studies have
indicated that fasting prolongs life and reduces
the risk of diabetes, cancer, heart disease and
Alzheimer’s disease. But human studies are scarce
and contradic tor y. A Univer sit y of Southern
C alifornia s tudy of 7 1 adult s published in the la s t
few years found that intermittent fasting reduced
blood pressure and risk factors for cardiovascular
disease, cancer and diabetes, and reduced body fat
too. But another study, from the University of
Illinois, sug ges t s it improves cardiova scular risk no
more than any other diet.Verdict: Intermittent fasting is no more effective
than other calorie-restricted diets.DO INTERMITTENT
FASTING DIETS WORK?