The University of Sydney-led study found that participants who had high levels of physical activity and a high-quality diet had the lowest risk of death.
Published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the researchers examined the independent and joint effects of diet and physical activity with all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer mortality using a large population-based sample (360,600) of adults. British Biobank of the United Kingdom. .
The UK Biobank is a large-scale biomedical cohort study that contains in-depth biological, behavioral, and health information from participants.
High-quality diets included at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, two servings of fish a week, and lower consumption of red meat, especially processed meat.
The study revealed that for those who had high levels of physical activity and a high-quality diet, their risk of mortality was reduced by 17% for all causes, 19% for cardiovascular disease and a 27% for selected cancers, compared to those with the worst diet who were physically inactive.
The lead author, Associate Professor Melody Ding of the Charles Perkins Center and the University of Sydney School of Medicine and Health, said:
“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 show that unfortunately this is not the case”.
“Adhering to both a quality diet and sufficient physical activity is important to optimally reduce the risk of death from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer,” says co-author Joe Van Buskirk of the School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health.
During an average follow-up of 11.2 years, 13,869 participants died from all causes, including 2,650 from CVD and 4,522 from cancer.
Although it did not achieve statistical significance for all causes and mortality from CVD, being in the best dietary category was associated with a reduction in cancer mortality (HR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.78 at 0.93).
“No additive or multiplicative interactions were found between physical activity categories and diet quality. When compared between combinations of physical activity and diet, the lowest risk combinations consistently included the highest levels of activity. physics and the highest quality diet score, ”the paper states.
A small number of studies have previously found that high-intensity exercise can counteract the physiological responses detrimental to overeating.
However, the long-term effects on how diet and physical activity interact with each other remained less explored. The results of this study confirm the importance of both physical activity and quality diet in all-cause and specific mortality.
“This study reinforces the importance of both physical activity and diet quality to achieve the greatest reduction in mortality risk,” said Associate Professor Ding.
“Public health messages and clinical advice should focus on promoting both physical activity and dietary guidelines to promote healthy longevity.”
Source: British Journal of Sports Medicine
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2021-105195
Physical activity, quality of diet and cardiovascular disease for all causes and cancer mortality: a prospective study of 346,627 participants in the UK biobank
Authors: Melody Ding, et al.