Diet, exercise take off equal pounds, study finds
Fri Jan 26, 2007 11:27am ET
Dieting alone also did not appear to cause the volunteers to lose muscle mass along with fat, Ravussin's team found.
"There is a concept that if you exercise, you are going to lose less of your muscle," he said. But his team found no evidence this is true.
Ravussin believes exercise is crucial to health, however.
"For overall health, an appropriate program of diet and exercise is still the best," he said.
His team found some small suggestion that cutting 25 percent of calories by either diet or diet and exercise might extend life.
"We found that 2 of the biomarkers of aging were improved -- core temperature was 0.4 to 0.5 degrees C less," he said. "Insulin, which has been shown to be a biomarker of aging, was reduced," Ravussin said. That finding was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last April.
They tested 24 people, 12 who ate a calorie-restricted diet, and 12 who dieted and also exercised five times a week for six months.
The dieters ate 25 percent less than normal, while the exercisers reduced their calorie intake by 12.5 percent and increased their physical activity to lose an extra 12.5 percent in calories.
Another 10 volunteers acted as controls. All food was provided by the university in carefully measured portions for most of the study.
The volunteers in both groups lost about 10 percent of their body weight, 24 percent of their fat mass, and 27 percent of their abdominal visceral fat. Visceral fat is packed in between the internal organs and is considered the most dangerous type of fat, linked with heart disease and diabetes.
The distribution of the fat on the body was not altered by either approach -- helping prove that there is no such thing as "spot reducing", Ravussin said in a telephone interview.
This suggests that "individuals are genetically programmed for fat storage in a particular pattern and that this programming cannot easily be overcome," he added.
Ravussin has published other studies that also dispute the idea that exercise builds muscle that helps people lose weight.
"If anything, highly trained people are highly efficient, so they burn fewer calories at rest," Ravussin said.
Dieting alone also did not appear to cause the volunteers to lose muscle mass along with fat, Ravussin's team found.
"There is a concept that if you exercise, you are going to lose less of your muscle," he said. But his team found no evidence this is true.
Ravussin believes exercise is crucial to health, however.
"For overall health, an appropriate program of diet and exercise is still the best," he said.
His team found some small suggestion that cutting 25 percent of calories by either diet or diet and exercise might extend life.
"We found that 2 of the biomarkers of aging were improved -- core temperature was 0.4 to 0.5 degrees C less," he said. "Insulin, which has been shown to be a biomarker of aging, was reduced," Ravussin said. That finding was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last April
