Regular exercise plus caloric reduction may achieve better health results: study
Reported January 09, 2010
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) — Combining regular exercise with cutting calories would achieve better health outcomes, according to a new study.
“It’s better to lose weight with a combination of caloric reduction and exercise rather than caloric reduction alone,” said study author Enette Larson-Meyer, an assistant professor of family and consumer science at the University of Wyoming.
Combining the two results in better health outcomes — such as lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels — than simply cutting calories alone, Larson-Meyer and his colleagues found in the study appearing in the January issue of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
For the six-month study, the researchers assigned 36 overweight men and women, average age 39, to one of three groups. One group cut calories by 25 percent. The second cut calories by about 12.5 percent and exercised enough to increase energy output by 12.5 percent. A control group simply stayed on a weight-maintenance diet.
At the study’s end, both the caloric-restriction group and the caloric-restriction plus exercise group lost about 10 percent of their body weight. The average weight at the study start was about178 pounds, so the loss at the end was about 17 pounds on average.
The exercise prescription varied according to body weight at the start, but typically men walked for 50 minutes at a brisk pace five days a week, and women, 45 minutes five times a week, Larson-Meyer said. They could choose their preferred activity and intensity, however.
At the end, those who included exercise had better health outcomes, according to the study.
“The big improvement was related to blood pressure,” Larson-Meyer said. The exercising and dieting group had greater blood pressure improvements, and improvement in cholesterol and insulin sensitivity, too, she said.
“It’s not surprising at all,” Larson-Meyer added. “They definitely work together.”
Working with a professional to decide on calorie restriction and workout routine is best, especially for obese people with orthopedic problems, she noted.
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