It turns out that you cannot simply consume bad foods and “burn them off later”
Researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia discovered that those with a bad diet who exercise frequently have the same risk of dying from heart disease, cancer, or other causes as those with the same diet who do not exercise.
Researchers caution that a balanced diet is still required, even though there are still major benefits to exercising, including daily health and potential aesthetic enhancements.
Many individuals with poor dietary habits believe they are all right as long as they exercise, and even feel vindicated by the muscle and improved cardio they develop. However, researchers caution that this is not the case.
Melody Ding, an associate professor at the institution, stated, “Both regular physical activity and a nutritious diet play a vital role in improving health and longevity.
Some people may believe that they can offset the negative effects of a poor diet with high levels of exercise or the negative effects of low physical activity with a high-quality diet, but the data indicates that this is not the case.
On Tuesday, researchers published their findings in the British Journal of Sports Medicine after collecting data from 360,600 UK people whose information is stored in the UK Biobank.
The dietary and physical activity patterns of each participant were used to categorize them.
People with the healthiest diets ingested at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily ate fish frequently and consumed red meat infrequently.
Those who regularly exercised were also separated into their group.
The researchers then examined death rates over a period of 11 years for all causes among all individuals for whom data was obtained.
They discovered that persons with a healthy diet and regular exercise had a 17 percent lower risk of dying from any cause than their peers.
Data on cancer and cardiovascular disease, are two of the world’s leading causes of death that are also closely linked to a person’s diet and level of physical activity.
Compared to their contemporaries, those in the healthiest group were 19 percent less likely to die from heart disease and 27 percent less likely to die from certain cancers.
Important for optimally reducing the risk of death from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and malignancies are adherence to a healthy diet and regular physical exercise. Co-author of the study Joe Van Buskirk remarked in a statement:
However, the same benefit was not observed in individuals who only consumed a healthy diet or who consistently exercised with a poor diet.
Researchers discovered no significant difference in all-cause mortality between individuals who scored poorly on both criteria and those who scored poorly in only one category.
Ding added, ‘This study underscores the significance of combining physical activity and nutrition quality for delivering the largest risk reduction in death.’
However, there may be a correlation between exercise and a healthy diet.
A study released in April by Washington State University discovered that mice who engaged in vigorous aerobic activity embraced low-fat diets more readily than their counterparts.
In general, people with more active lifestyles also have better mental health, another characteristic associated with healthy eating habits.
