Study confirms the importance of both physical activity and quality diet in all-cause and cause-specific mortality
New research has found that high levels of physical activity do not counteract the detrimental effects of a poor diet on mortality risk.
The University of Sydney, Australia led study found participants who had both high levels of physical activity and a high-quality diet had the lowest risk of death, showing that you cannot ‘’outrun” a poor diet.
Published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the researchers examined the independent and joint effects of diet and physical activity with all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality using a large population-based sample (360,600) of British adults from the UK Biobank. The UK Biobank is a large-scale biomedical cohort study containing in-depth biological, behavioural, and health information from participants.
The study revealed that for those who had high levels of physical activity and a high-quality diet, their mortality risk was reduced by 17 percent from all causes, 19 percent from cardiovascular disease and 27 percent from selected cancers, as compared with those with the worst diet who were physically inactive.
“Public health messages and clinical advice should focus on promoting both physical activity and dietary guidelines to promote healthy longevity”, said the researchers.
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