• Walking can lower risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes as much as running.

• The more people walked or ran each week, the more their health benefits increased.

Walking briskly can lower your risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes as much as running can, according to surprising findings reported in the American Heart Association journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.

Researchers analyzed 33,060 runners in the National Runners’ Health Study and 15,045 walkers in the National Walkers’ Health Study. They found that the same energy used for moderate intensity walking and vigorous intensity running resulted in similar reductions in risk for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and possibly coronary heart disease over the study’s six years.

“Walking and running provide an ideal test of the health benefits of moderate-intensity walking and vigorous-intensity running because they involve the same muscle groups and the same activities performed at different intensities,” said Paul T. Williams, Ph.D., the study’s principal author and staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Life Science Division in Berkeley, Calif.

 “The more the runners ran and the walkers walked, the better off they were in health benefits. If the amount of energy expended was the same between the two groups, then the health benefits were comparable,” Williams said.

Comparing energy expenditure to self-reported, physician-diagnosed incident hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes and coronary heart disease, researchers found:

• Running significantly reduced risk for first-time hypertension 4.2 percent and walking reduced risk 7.2 percent.

• Running reduced first-time high cholesterol 4.3 percent and walking 7 percent.

• Running reduced first-time diabetes 12.1 percent compared to 12.3 percent for walking.

• Running reduced coronary heart disease 4.5 percent compared to 9.3 percent for walking.

“Walking may be a more sustainable activity for some people when compared to running, however, those who choose running end up exercising twice as much as those that choose walking. This is probably because they can do twice as much in an hour,” Williams said.

Study participants were 18 to 80 years old, clustered in their 40s and 50s. Men represented 21 percent of the walkers and 51.4 percent of the runners.

“People are always looking for an excuse not to exercise, but now they have a straightforward choice to run or to walk and invest in their future health,” Williams said. 

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Boosting physicians' fitness might have trickle-down effect for entire population, experts say. 

If physicians think their own fitness is important, chances are they'll advise exercise for their patients too, a new study finds.

The research found that physically fit doctors were more likely to push for physical activity in patients than inactive doctors.

Because people often take their doctor's advice seriously, "these findings suggest that improving health care providers' physical activity levels may be an easy way to help reduce physical inactivity among the general population," Isabel Garcia de Quevedo, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an American Heart Association news release.

The research team analyzed the findings of 28 previous studies on health care providers' physical activity and the exercise counseling they gave to patients. The review revealed that physically active health care providers were much more likely to advise their patients to get daily exercise. 

Some of the studies found that fit, active doctors were two to five times more likely than inactive doctors to recommend exercise to their patients. Other studies found that programs to improve doctors' physical activity levels improved the doctor's confidence and ability to provide exercise advice to patients.

The researchers also discovered that medical school students who took part in a program to improve their lifestyle habits were 56 percent more likely than other medical students to provide patients with regular physical activity counseling.

The American Heart Association and the CDC recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week.

SOURCE: American Heart Association, news release, March 22, 2013 

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Osteoporosis, the loss of bone mineral density, occurs in 55% of Americans over the age of 50. It’s associated with increased risk of fracture after a fall. Weight-bearing exercises are often effective at reducing the rate of bone loss, but rarely increases bone density in osteoporotic women.

Researchers investigated the effects of a multi-component and multi-modal exercise program in osteoporotic women. The 11-month exercise program included a well-rounded exercise program of strength, balance, flexibility, and aerobic activities. The first 3 months of exercise were performed 3 times per week on land, while the remaining 8 months combined land-based (twice a week) with aquatic exercise (once a week). Exercise sessions lasted 60 minutes and included exercises with dumbbells, Thera-Band® resistance bands, exercise balls, and steps. Each session included 20 to 25 minutes of warm-up, 30 minutes of training, and 5 to 10 minutes of cool-down. The exercise group also performed the exercises at home.

After the intervention, the exercise group significantly improved their femoral neck bone density score while the control group significantly decreased. Physical function also significantly increased in the exercise group, but decreased in the control group. Total bone mineral density, balance, and flexibility did not improve significantly in either group.

In conclusion a multi-component exercise program including Thera-Band resistance bands and aquatic exercise can improve function and bone health in post-menopausal women with osteoporosis.

REFERENCE: Tolomio S, Ermolao A, Lalli A, Zaccaria M. The effect of a multicomponent dual-modality exercise program targeting osteoporosis on bone health status and physical function capacity of postmenopausal women. J Women Aging. 2010 Oct;22(4):241-54. 

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Arizona Chiropractic Orthopedics

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A picture is worth a thousand words, and that’s why nutritionists use symbols and shapes to answer the question, “What should I eat?” For nearly two decades, the U.S. government distilled its nutrition advice into pyramids. These efforts didn't accurately show people what makes up a healthy diet. Why? Their recommendations were based on out-of-date science and influenced by people with business interests in the messages the icons sent. This year, the U.S. government scrapped its MyPyramid icon in favor of the fruit-and-vegetable rich MyPlate—an improvement, yet one that still doesn't go far enough to show people how to make the healthiest choices.

There are better alternatives: the new Healthy Eating Plate and the Healthy Eating Pyramid, both built by faculty members in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, in conjunction with colleagues at Harvard Health Publications. The Healthy Eating Plate fixes the flaws in USDA's MyPlate, just as the Healthy Eating Pyramid rectifies the mistakes of the USDA's food pyramids. Both the Healthy Eating Plate and the Healthy Eating Pyramid are based on the latest science about how our food, drink, and activity choices affect our health—and are unaffected by businesses and organizations with a stake in their messages. 

When it’s time for dinner, most of us eat off of a plate. So think of the new Healthy Eating Plate as blueprint for a typical meal: Fill half your plate with produce—colorful vegetables, the more varied the better, and fruits. (Remember, potatoes and French fries don't count as vegetables!) Save a quarter of your plate for whole grains. A healthy source of protein, such as fish, poultry, beans, or nuts, can make up the rest. The glass bottle is a reminder to use healthy oils, like olive and canola, in cooking, on salad, and at the table. Complete your meal with a cup of water, or if you like, tea or coffee with little or no sugar (not the milk or other dairy products that the USDA’s MyPlate recommends; limit milk/dairy products to one to two servings per day). And that figure scampering across the bottom of the placemat? It’s your reminder that staying active is half of the secret to weight control. The other half is eating a healthy diet with modest portions that meet your calorie needs—so be sure you choose a plate that is not too large. .....