Do you every wonder how fit or slim people manage to eat what ever they want but not put on the weight?
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin in Madison may have found a clue: EXERCISE.
The researchers were curious about the differences between fit persons and not fit persons when it came to increased body fat. Over time in most people small increases in fat consumption will lead to overall increases in body fat percentage.
So even though a person may eat a low fat diet most days, regular splurges in the diet can cause the body to increase its fat stores.
But this did not seem to be true in slimmer men and women.
So to test a theory that exercise plays a role the researchers randomized 10 women to one of three exercise groups: sedentary, low exercise and moderate exercise. The low exercise group burned an additional 150 calories a day and the moderate burned 300 additional calories a day.
Then the diet of each of the women was switched from a low fat diet to a high fat diet, with more than 50 percent of the calories from fat. This high fat diet was only consumed for four days, and then the diet reverted back to low fat (30 percent of calories).
They found that the women who were burning 300 calories a day burned the extra calories from fat faster than the women in the sedentary or low exercise groups.
The results were published in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Once again, the addition of daily exercise scores a point for health.
The researchers could not determine why this accelerated fat burning occured in the women who were exercising more.
Though this was a small study, only 10 participants, the findings were significant enough to warrant more studies.
Posted by Dr. Christina Gutierrez on February 13, 2007 10:23 AM
