New US research suggests fitness may be more important than weight loss for reducing the health risks associated with obesity.
The study from Arizona State University, published in the journal iScience, looked at how to reduce the risk of obesity-related health conditions and mortality by comparing the effectiveness of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness with that of weight loss. It found:
- increased physical activity and improvements in fitness levels can reduce risks of obesity-related health conditions and mortality, even without weight loss; and
- improving fitness rather than weight loss may be at least as effective as weight loss in reducing adverse health consequences of obesity.
The authors noted both resistance training and aerobic exercise produce a decrease in blood pressure, with the extent of decline similar to results from weight loss. Exercise training also improves blood glucose control, blood cholesterol levels and vascular function to a similar extent as weight loss, as well as effectively reducing the amount of fat the body stores in the liver and visceral adipose tissue (fat surrounding internal organs, especially in the abdomen).
The authors recommend a ‘weight- neutral’ approach that primarily focuses on improving cardiorespiratory fitness and increasing physical activity for obesity management – and clarify that while health professionals should not discourage weight loss, it should not be the primary focus of obesity management.
Co-author Professor Glenn Gaesser told medicalnewstoday.com: ‘Current obesity treatment guidelines do not even mention ‘fitness’ and only encourage physical activity as a means to facilitate weight loss. This approach ignores major improvements in mortality and disease risk associated with increased physical activity and improved fitness in the absence of weight loss.
‘In fact our review shows improving fitness by increasing physical activity is associated with greater reductions in mortality risk compared to weight loss.’
He summed up: ‘Fitness should be included as an essential ‘vital sign’ for assessing a person’s health status…
‘Fitness impacts health and longevity prospects for everyone, regardless of body weight.’
