Dr. Jeffrey Woods divided mice into four groups: One group exercised, one group was sedentary, one group was put on a low-fat diet without exercise, and one group followed both a low-fat diet and an exercise regime.
"The surprise was that the combination of diet and exercise did not yield dramatically different and better results than diet or exercise alone," said Vicki Vieira, lead author of the study.
Only the sedentary mice had a significant increase in belly fat, which is linked to heart disease and diabetes.
"Even if you struggle with dieting, we believe you can still reduce the likelihood of developing obesity-related inflammatory diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, by adding a modest amount of exercise to your life," said Dr. Woods.
This study appeared in the American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Labels: overweight, weight_loss, exercise
Posted By: Aspen/CRC
