|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Exercising 300 minutes per week is recommended for reducing total fat
in post- menopausal women than the
currently recommended 150 minutes, the researchers said.
"A possible association between physical activity and post-menopausal
breast cancer risk is supported by more than 100 epidemiologic
studies, with strong biologic rationale supporting fat loss as an
important (though not the only) mediator of this association," the study said.
"Our findings of a dose- response effect of exercise on total fat mass
and several
other adiposity measures, including abdominal fat, especially in obese women,
provide a basis for encouraging post-menopausal women to exercise at
least 300 minutes/week, longer than the
minimum recommended for cancer prevention," researchers said.
The results of the one-year clinical trial was published online in the
journal JAMA
Oncology.
According to the study, physical activity is an inexpensive,
non-invasive strategy for disease prevention advocated by public
health agencies around the world, with recommendations to be
physically active at least 150 minutes per week at moderate
intensity or 60 to 75 minutes per week at vigorous intensity for overall health.
For the new study, Christine Friedenreich of Alberta Health Services,
Canada, and
colleagues compared 300 minutes of exercise per week with 150 minutes
per week of moderate to vigorous aerobic
exercise for its effect on body fat in 400 inactive post- menopausal
women who were evenly split into the two
exercise groups.
The women, who had body mass index (BMI) 22 to 40, were asked not to
change their usual diet.
Any aerobic activity that raised the heart rate 65 percent to 75
percent of heart rate reserve was permitted, and most of the
activities involved the elliptical trainer, walking, bicycling and running.
Average reductions in total body fat were larger in the 300-minute
versus 150-minute group.
Abdominal fat, BMI, waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio also
decreased more in the 300-minute group, the findings showed.
Credit: IANS
