Diet Might be More Important than Exercise at Fighting Obesity
Author: tiger Published Under: Health
For many years, it has been long believed that lack of exercise is a primary component of the growing obesity trend. However, a new study released by the Loyola University seems to find that this is not the case. The study indicates that a persons diet plays a much larger role in weight loss than exercise does.
Scientists at Loyola compared women of African American dissent in both Nigeria and Chicago. They found that on average the women in Nigeria weighed over 30% less than the women in Chicago.
The hypothesis had been that the Nigerian women, who weighed considerably less than the Chicago women, would also have a much more rigorous daily routine that resulted in more calories being burned. However, they found that there was not a significant difference in the number of calories burned between the two groups.
After adjusting the figures based on body size, scientists found that the Chicago women burned around 760 calories a day, while the Nigerian women burned about 800 calories a day. According to the researchers, this was not statistically important.
While the amount of physical activity and subsequent calories burned was very similar between the two groups of women, their diet was not. The American women had a diet that consisted largely of processed food and was much higher in fat. The diet of the Nigerian women, on the other hand, was low in fat, while being high in carbohydrates and fiber.
As a result, the researchers concluded that diet plays more of a role in a persons weight than exercise does. These findings corroborate a 2007 study, also preformed by Loyola University, which compared men and women in Jamaica.
In many ways, these findings are not terribly surprising. It has long been known that a proper diet is essential to remaining healthy. It is also generally accepted that diet is important in conjunction with exercise and working out. This is something that almost any dietary expert or fitness expert could agree on.
However, the study arguably seems to reverse the order of importance of diet and exercise. For years, critics have cited lack of proper physical activity as a leading cause of obesity. This study seems to point towards the dietary habits of individuals and the type of food as being the root cause of obesity.