A study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a publication of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), links a nutritious diet to improved physical fitness in middle-aged- individuals.
“This study provides some of the strongest and most rigorous data thus far to support the connection that better diets may lead to higher fitness,” said study author Dr. Michael Mi of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, US. “The improvement in fitness we observed in participants with better diets was similar to the effect of taking 4,000 more steps each day.”
Cardiorespiratory fitness measures the body’s ability to deliver oxygen during exercise and also reflects the health of several organ systems. While exercise improves cardiorespiratory fitness, disparity is seen in people who exercise the same amount. While a healthy diet is known to offer numerous amount of health benefits, it is unknown if it’s linked to fitness or not.
This study aimed to assess the link between a nutritious diet and physical fitness in community dwellings individuals. The Framingham Heart Study included 2,380 participants, where the average age was 54 years, and 54% of the participants were female, who underwent a maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test on a cycle ergometer to measure peak VO2.
Researchers assessed the link between diet quality and fitness after controlling factors, like, age, sex, body mass index, blood pressure, diabetes and other physical activity. The average AHEI and MDS were 66.7 and 12.4. An increase of 13 points on AHI and 4.7 on MDS was associated with 5.2% and 4.5% greater peak of VO2.
Dr. Mi said: “In middle-aged adults, healthy dietary patterns were strongly and favorably associated with fitness even after taking habitual activity levels into account. The relationship was similar in women and men, and more pronounced in those under 54 years of age compared to older adults.”
He further stated, “Our metabolite data suggest that eating healthily is associated with better metabolic health, which could be one possible way that it leads to improved fitness and ability to exercise.”
Regarding limitations, he noted: “This was an observational study and we cannot conclude that eating well causes better fitness, or exclude the possibility of a reverse relationship, i.e. that fit individuals choose to eat healthily.”
(ANI)
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