We've heard the old diet and exercise mantra, but have we listened?
According to a study conducted by the Swedish Covenant Hospital, Chicago, researchers found that adopting daily exercise habits and a calcium-rich diet could reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome, a group of health risks that include large waist size, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and insulin insensitivity. When a person has all of these issues in unison, there exists a significant higher risk for heart disease and type-2 diabetes.
"As with many health conditions, when the good behaviors are absent, the condition is more prevalent," says Adam Reppert, lead study author and clinical dietitian at Swedish Covenant Hospital.
Published in the November/December issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion, the study surveyed 5,077 Illinois adults who gave information about their chronic health conditions, exercise habits and daily intake of fruit, vegetables and other sources of calcium.
"We found that metabolic syndrome was more prevalent in the older, less affluent population, in people with less education and in those who engaged in less physical activity, consumed calcium-rich foods less frequently and had hypertension and hypercholesterolemia," Reppert says.
More than 16 percent of those surveyed had the condition, which is lower than national estimates of 23.7 percent to 34.5 percent. Adults who failed to consume calcium-rich foods regularly had about 1.5 times the risk of developing metabolic syndrome, compared to adults who ate calcium-rich diets.
Also, researchers found that health behaviors have a significant influence. Adults who reported little or no daily exercise had nearly twice the risk of developing the condition.
Although a metabolic syndrome diagnosis does not necessarily mean a diagnosis for diabetes or heart disease, they are the conditions that lead to these diseases.
Reppert sees metabolic syndrome as a chance for people to make changes before it's too late. It's an opportunity for people "to intervene to prevent heart disease or diabetes, because once you have those things they are irreversible, although manageable," Reppert says.
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