Fwd: Exercise Firms Fat, Cuts Heart Risk in Older Women

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> Exercise Firms Fat, Cuts Heart Risk in Older Women

> By Suzanne Rostler

>

> NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Regular, moderate exercise can lower the

> risk of heart disease among older women by boosting fitness and

> trimming tummy fat, new research shows.

>

> The study found that postmenopausal women who began an exercise

> program of brisk walking or cycling five days a week lowered their

> levels of abdominal fat by about 6% and lost weight, regardless of

> body weight or age. Not surprisingly, the most active women lost the

> most body fat and the most weight.

>

> Women who did no cardiovascular exercise but performed stretching

> exercises one day a week actually saw intra-abdominal fat and weight

> increase slightly after a year, report researchers in the January

> 15th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

>

> The results suggest a strategy for lowering the risk of heart

> disease, a leading cause of death among women. Intra-abdominal fat is

> considered a major risk factor for heart disease and is also

> associated with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high

> cholesterol.

>

> Fit individuals, or those able to maintain an elevated heart rate

> over time, are also less likely to die of heart disease regardless of

> body weight, Dr. Anne McTiernan from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer

> Research Center in Seattle, Washington, and colleagues explain.

>

> Dieting, previous studies have shown, may be just part of the

> solution. To investigate the effect of regular exercise on body fat

> and weight, researchers divided 168 inactive women aged 50 to 75

> years into two groups. All women had BMIs over 25.

>

> The exercisers were instructed to walk on a treadmill or cycle on a

> stationary bicycle for at least 45 minutes, five days a week, for one

> year. Weight training was recommended but not required. Women in the

> control group performed a series of stretching exercises one day a

> week for the year.

>

> The most active women, or those who exercised more than 3 hours and

> 15 minutes a week, lost about 7% of their intra-abdominal fat,

> compared with a loss of 6% among intermediate exercisers, as measured

> by a CT scan. Those who exercised less than 2 hours and 15 minutes a

> week lost 3.4% of their intra-abdominal fat, while women in the

> control group gained 0.1% intra-abdominal fat, the study found.

>

> Body weight decreased by an average of 1.3 kilograms (kg) or nearly

> three pounds in the group of exercises, while body weight rose very

> slightly (.2 pounds) in the group of stretchers.

>

>

> " Women should be relieved that when they increase their exercise

> levels, they are doing good things for their bodies and health, even

> if they don't see much change on the scale, " McTiernan said in an

> interview.

>

> According to a study cited in her article, losing just over two

> pounds is associated with a 1% reduction in cholesterol and a 2%

> reduction in triglycerides, a type of body fat associated with heart

> disease. Losing this amount of weight can also reduce fasting blood

> sugar, an indicator of diabetes risk.

>

> More research is needed to determine whether dieting would help

> reduce abdominal fat even further, McTiernan said.

>

> SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association 2003;289:323-330.

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