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Sydney, Australia | Xinhua | New research from the University of Sydney has shown that physical activity alone cannot counteract the negative impact a poor diet has on the human body.
The study, published on Tuesday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, followed the health outcomes of a population-based sample of 360,600 people living in Britain over an 11-year period.
People who maintained both physical activity and a “high-quality diet”, which included five portions of fruit and vegetable every day, two portions of fish per week and a lower consumption of red meat, boasted the best outcomes.
“Some people may think they could offset the impacts of a poor diet with high levels of exercise or offset the impacts of low physical activity with a high-quality diet, but the data shows that unfortunately this is not the case,” said lead author, Associate Professor Melody Ding from the University of Sydney.
The study found that people who had both a high-quality diet and high levels of physical activity had a reduced mortality risk of 17 percent from all causes, 19 percent from heart disease, and 27 percent less chance of developing certain cancers.
However, many of these benefits were found to be lost or diminished without a proper diet. Ding told Xinhua that this would likely suggest that the two facets have independent health benefits.
“So essentially, if someone does one thing, whether it is diet and physical activity, right, it is already good in terms of risk reduction, but it would be the best to do both things right,” she said.
This contradicts many popular dieting fads which are hinged on counting calories to burn fat without necessarily promoting a balanced, healthy diet. So, in the words of Ding and her co-researchers, “you can’t outrun a poor diet.”
“Public health messages and clinical advice should focus on promoting both physical activity and dietary guidelines to promote healthy longevity,” Ding said.
