Healthy diet, exercise linked to reduced risk for metabolic syndrome later in life
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Adherence to guideline-recommended physical activity or diet conferred benefits for cardiometabolic health later in life; however, adherence to both may confer the greatest risk reductions, researchers reported.
According to data published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, adherence to both the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans and the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans was associated with 52% risk reduction for metabolic syndrome compared with nonadherence to both.
“There is a lack of evidence on the conjoint association of physical activity and diet quality with the incidence of metabolic syndrome in a large prospective cohort study,” Joowon Lee, PhD, postdoctoral research fellow at Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote. “Our results indicate that adherence to both physical activity and dietary guidelines in middle adulthood may have synergistic effects on lowering the risk of cardiometabolic disease later in life.”
For this analysis, researchers included 2,379 third-generation participants in the Framingham Heart Study (mean age, 47 years; 54% women), to evaluate whether adherence to the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans and the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans correlated with the prevalence of metabolic syndrome.
Adherence to physical activity was defined as moderate to vigorous physical activity at least 150 minutes per week, and dietary adherence was defined as at least a 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans index score of 62.1 of 100.
Researchers observed adherence rates to guideline-recommended levels of physical activity and diet adherence were both associated with lower odds for metabolic syndrome prevalence compared with nonadherence (OR for physical activity = 0.49; 95% CI, 0.4-0.6; P < .001; OR for diet = 0.67; 95% CI, 0.51-0.9; P < .001). However, adherence to both guidelines were associated with the lowest odds of metabolic syndrome prevalence compared with nonadherence to both (OR = 0.35; 95% CI, 0.26-0.47; P < .001).
According to the prospective study, adherence to the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans and the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans was associated with lower risk for metabolic syndrome compared with nonadherence (HR for physical activity = 0.66; 95% CI, 0.5-0.88; P = .004; HR for diet = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.51-0.9; P = .008); however, the greatest benefits were experienced by those who adhered to both guidelines compared with individuals who adhered to neither (HR = 0.48; 95% CI, 0.32-0.7; P < .001).
“Health care professionals could use these findings to further promote and emphasize to their patients the benefits of a healthy diet and a regular exercise schedule to avoid the development of numerous chronic health conditions in the present and in later life,” Vanessa Xanthakis, PhD, FAHA, assistant professor of medicine and biostatistics in the section of preventive medicine and epidemiology at Boston University School of Medicine, said in a press release. “The earlier people make these lifestyle changes, the more likely they will be to lower their risk of cardiovascular-associated diseases later in life.”
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