Are you planning an extra 30 minutes at the gym to counteract the effects of extra donuts in the morning? Think again. High levels of exercise cannot offset the negative effects of poor dietary choices, according to a new study from the University of Sydney.
The lead author of a new study, Melody Ding, set out to close the gap in the study after discovering a clear lack of studies investigating the long-term effects of diet and exercise on longevity and health. Many longitudinal studies have examined one or the other, and there have been short-term studies suggesting that high-intensity physical activity may counteract some of the harmful effects of binge eating. However, Din wanted to know if exercise could offset the health risks of a bad diet in the long run.
Tracking health data from more than 250,000 subjects, a new study found that people who exercise actively when they haven’t eaten enough are certainly better than those who don’t exercise at all, but the body. The benefits of the activity were definitely reduced if accompanied by an unhealthy diet.
“Some people may think that high levels of exercise can offset the effects of poor diet, and high quality diets can offset the effects of low physical activity, but unfortunately they are not. The data show that, “says Ding. “Both regular physical activity and a healthy diet play an important role in promoting good health and longevity.”
This study looked at all-cause mortality and more specific indicators of cardiovascular and cancer mortality. Across all metrics, people who exercised consistently and ate a high-quality diet showed a lower risk of death than those who were physically inactive on a poor diet.
This study was limited because the health data analyzed lacked detailed insights into specific dietary traits. A high quality diet is broadly defined here as eating fruits or vegetables at least 5 times a day, minimizing lean meats, and eating fish twice a week.
Therefore, without more detailed tracking of what is known to be unhealthy, such as fast food and sweet soda, an accurate assessment of the long-term effects of exercise combined with a very poor diet. It’s difficult to do.Talk to Sydney Morning Herald, Ding acknowledged that there are limits to the data available to researchers. In the future, she hopes that more research will be able to unravel these more specific links.
Ding emphasizes these findings, but does not mean that people with poor diet should stop any form of exercise. Although physical activity has obvious benefits, even without a good dietary choice, this study shows that exercise does not completely counteract the negative effects of unhealthy foods.
“Independent of each other, both diet and physical activity are important for health and longevity,” Din said. “If you can’t eat a healthy diet, you shouldn’t feel that you should give up on physical activity, and vice versa. If possible, do both correctly.”
The new study was published in British Journal of Sports Medicine..
Source: University of Sydney
