Healthy diet or exercise alone isn’t enough to prevent chronic disease, new research shows. Contrary to popular belief, you can’t outrun the toll of a poor diet — and eating healthy on its own won’t ward off disease.
Most people know that exercising and eating right are crucial components of overall health. But one major study published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that going to the gym doesn’t counteract the effects of consuming fat-laden foods, and that kale can’t negate sedentary habits.
“Sensational headlines and misleading exercise plan advertisements to trick consumers into the idea of ’exercising to eat what they want’ have fueled the myth about ‘exercise that trumps poor diet’,” the study authors wrote.
Last animal studies as well as a Few people have supported this, suggesting that, at least in the short term, strenuous exercise may counteract the effects of overeating.
So an international team of researchers examined data from nearly 350,000 participants collected from the UK Biobank, a vast medical database containing health information from people across Britain, and followed up over a 10-year period. The study participants, median age 57, were healthy at the start of the study, meaning they had not been diagnosed with conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer or chronic pain.
By analyzing self-reported questionnaires, the experts assessed the quality of people’s diets. For example, high-quality diets include a minimum of 4.5 cups of fruits and vegetables per day, two or more servings of fish per week, less than two servings of processed meats per week, and no more than five servings of red meat per week. The study did not measure discretionary foods such as soft drinks or desserts, said Melody Ding, the study’s lead author and an associate professor at the University of Sydney.
The researchers also measured activity levels using responses from another questionnaire that asked about the total number of minutes participants spent in walking and moderate physical activity, such as carrying light loads or cycling at a steady pace, and vigorous physical activity engaged in physical activity. lasted more than 10 minutes at a time. The authors wrote that it was the first study to examine diet and exercise in addition to both general mortality and specific fatal diseases, such as cancer.
Not surprisingly, people with both a higher level of physical activity and a better quality diet had the lowest mortality risk. Overall physical activity levels were associated with a lower risk of death, but those who regularly did vigorous exercise — the kind that make you sweat — had a particularly lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. And even just 10 to 75 minutes a week made a difference.
Regardless of your diet, said Dr. Ding, “physical activity is important. And whatever your physical activity, nutrition is important.”
“Any amount of exercise is protective,” said Salvador Portugal, a sports health expert and assistant professor in NYU Langone Health’s division of rehabilitation medicine, who was not involved in the study. But you can’t rely on your training alone to maintain good health, he added.
These findings underscore what many doctors have seen in practice, said Dr. Tamanna Singh, co-director of Cleveland Clinic’s Sports Cardiology Center, who was not involved in the study. For example, she said there are many components to heart health, and “optimizing one thing won’t necessarily improve your cardiovascular risk.”
She sees patients who classify themselves as amateur or professional athletes and are shocked when they have cardiovascular events, she said, without regard to their diet. “Often they come up to me after an event and say, ‘I exercise so much. Why did I have a heart attack?’”
On the other hand, even those on the most nutrient-dense diets in the study saw significantly worse results without any kind of regular fitness regimen.
That doesn’t mean people can’t treat themselves after a workout, said Dr. Singh. (She’s a marathoner herself, and she looks forward to nachos after a long run.) “For the most part, if you’re intentional about what you put into your body and intentional about how you move your body, you’re doing enough.”
The study highlights the importance of viewing food and exercise as components of holistic health, said Dr. Thing, instead of calculating how many miles can “cancel” a cookie.
“It’s not just about burning calories,” she said. “We have to change that thinking.”