"Health News - Medicine, Diet and Fitness"

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Getting back on track for good Men’s health could be as simple as a walk in the park. A new study done at the Duke University Medical Center shows that even a moderate amount of brisk walking can trim waistlines and cut disease risk factors.

The lead author of the study is Johanna Johnson, a clinical researcher at Duke Medical Center. “A person can lower their risk of MetS (metabolic syndrome) by walking just 30 minutes a day, 6 days per week. That’s about 11 miles per week, said Johnson. “And our study shows that you’ll benefit even if you don’t make any dietary changes.”

MetS is a cluster of risk factors associated with the likelihood of developing heart disease, diabetes and stroke. To be diagnosed with MetS, an individual has to have 3 of these 5 risk factors: large waist circumference, high blood pressure, high levels of triglycerides, low amounts of HDL (good cholesterol) and high blood sugar. A quarter of all Americans have MetS.

Johnson and her colleagues studied the amount and intensity of exercise of 171 overweight men and women over 8 months. Before they began exercising, 41% of the participants met the MetS criteria. After 8 months, only 27% did. “That is a significant decline in prevalence,” said Johnson. “It’s also encouraging news for sedentary, middle-aged adults who want to improve their Men’s health. It means they don’t have to go out running 4 or 5 days a week. They can get significant Men’s health benefits by simply walking around the neighborhood after dinner every night.”

Although everyone in the study ended up with a smaller waistline, researchers also found that some exercise regimens were better than others. Those who walked 11 miles a week did significantly better. Those who jogged 17 miles a week did a bit better than the walkers. Surprisingly, those who did vigorous exercise didn’t improve their MetS scores as much as those who did less intense exercise over a longer period.

Dr. William Kraus, a Duke cardiologist says “There may be more value in doing moderate intensity exercise every day rather than more intense activity just a few days a week.”

In general, men reduced their MetS scores more than women did but Johnson points out that men also started out at the baseline with worse scores than women. “The results of our study underscore what we have known for along time, says Kraus. “Some exercise is better than none. More exercise is generally better than less and no exercise can be disastrous.”

The results are part of a multi-year, federally funded study called STRRIDE (Studies of a Targeted Risk Reduction Intervention through Defined Exercise).

SOURCE: American Journal of Cardiology, Dec. 15, 2007

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 at 4:12 pm and is filed under Aid / Disasters, Blood / Hematology, Diabetes, Medical News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.