YOU CAN BE FAT BUT FIT, SAY SCIENTISTS
IN CHANGE OF ADVICE
People can be “fat but fit” and for a longer life should concentrate on exercise rather than dieting, experts have said. Researchers said that healthy bodies came in all “shapes and sizes” and that adopting a “weight-neutral” approach to the treatment of health issues caused by obesity would also curb the health risks associated with on-and-off dieting. They added that numerous studies had shown how people around the world had been trying to lose weight over the past 40 years, and yet obesity continued to rise. They said that “a weight-centric” approach to obesity treatment and prevention had largely not worked.
“Moreover, repeated weight loss efforts may contribute to weight gain, and is undoubtedly associated with the high prevalence of weight cycling — ‘yo-yo dieting’ — which is associated with significant health risks,” they said.
The findings of Glenn Gaesser, a professor at Arizona State University, and Siddhartha Angadi, an associate professor at the University of Virginia, have been published in the journal iScience. The pair highlighted studies suggesting that for a longer life, exercise was better than just losing weight. The findings differ from a study undertaken in Spain last year, in which overweight participants were found to be at greater cardiovascular risk than their peers with normal weight, irrespective of activity levels, leading the study’s lead author to comment: “One cannot be fat but healthy.” However, Gaesser and Angadi argued that “many obesity-related health conditions are more likely attributable to low physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness rather than obesity per se”, adding: “Epidemiological studies show that cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activity significantly attenuate, and sometimes eliminate, the increased mortality risk associated with obesity.”
However, the researchers said that adopting a weight-neutral approach “does not mean that weight loss should be categorically discouraged”.
John Reynolds
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THE FRENCH WERE RIGHT — CHEESE IS GOOD FOR THE HEART
It is a mystery scientists have called the “French paradox”: our continental neighbours are seemingly able to consume cheese to their heart’s desire — and yet keep their hearts healthy.
Now researchers have found that cheese and cream may indeed ward off heart problems. A study using blood samples from more than 4,000 adultsmfound that those with higher intakes of dairy fat had a lower heart-disease risk. Earlier research had also shown that eating more full-fat dairy was linked to either no increased risk of heart problems or possibly protected against them. But it tended to rely on people’s own reports of their diet. The new study, in Swedish adults, instead used blood samples to judge how much dairy was in their diets. Participants were followed for 16 years on average to see how many had heart attacks, strokes, or other serious circulatory events, and how many died.
After adjusting for factors such as age, income, lifestyle and other diseases, the cardiovascular disease risk was lowest for people with high levels of fatty acids
in their blood, reflecting high intake of dairy fats. That group had no increased risk of death from all causes. The researchers also analysed 17 similar studies in other countries; these confirmed their conclusions. The findings appear in PLOS Medicine.
The lead author, Dr Kathy Trieu, from the George Institute for Global Health, said that some dairy foods, especially fermented products, had previously been associated with benefits for the heart. She added: “Other fats like those found in seafood, nuts, and non-tropical vegetable oils can have greater health benefits than dairy fats.”
Kat Lay Health Editor
from The Financial Times, Sept 22, 2021
BẠN CÓ THỂ BÉO NHƯNG KHOẺ, CÁC NHÀ KHOA HỌC
NÓI NHẰM THAY ĐỔI LỜI KHUYÊN
Mọi người có thể "béo nhưng khoẻ" và trong một cuộc sống lâu hơn nên tập trung vào tập thể dục hơn là ăn kiêng, các chuyên gia cho biết. Các nhà nghiên cứu nói rằng các cơ thể khỏe mạnh có tất cả "hình dạng và kích cỡ" và việc áp dụng cách tiếp cận "trung lập về cân nặng" để điều trị các vấn đề sức khỏe do béo phì cũng sẽ hạn chế những rủi ro sức khỏe liên quan đến chế độ ăn kiêng. Họ nói thêm rằng nhiều nghiên cứu đã chỉ ra cách mọi người trên khắp thế giới đã cố gắng giảm cân trong 40 năm qua, nhưng béo phì vẫn tiếp tục gia tăng. Họ nói rằng cách tiếp cận "tập trung vào cân nặng" để điều trị và phòng ngừa béo phì phần lớn không hiệu quả.
Hơn nữa, những nỗ lực giảm cân lặp đi lặp lại có thể góp phần tăng cân, và chắc chắn có liên quan đến tỷ lệ đi xe đạp cân nặng cao - `ăn kiêng yo-yo` - có liên quan đến những rủi ro sức khỏe đáng kể, họ nói.
Những phát hiện của Glenn Gaesser, giáo
nguon VI OLET
