Think you can escape the consequences of an all-junk-food diet by strapping on the running shoes? Think again.
A new study from the University of Sydney, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, has found that high physical activity levels do not counteract the health risks from poor-quality diets.
The study examined details of 360,600 British adults from the UK Biobank and found that compared to those with low physical activity levels and poor diets, highly active people with high-quality diets had their mortality risk cut by 17 per cent from all causes, 19 per cent from cardiovascular disease and 27 per cent from selected cancers.
According to the lead author, Associate Professor Melody Ding from the Charles Perkins Centre and the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney, while active people with poor diets did fare better than inactive people with poor diets, diet and exercise together are still key to health.
“Both regular physical activity and a healthy diet play an important role in promoting health and longevity.
“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,” she said.
What constitutes a healthy diet? According to the study authors, it’s five serves of fruit and veg per day, two portions of fish per week, and cutting intake of red meat – particularly processed meat.
So no, turning your Macca’s run into a literal run isn’t going to help you get healthy. Sorry.
