(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- You may want to think twice before taking the elevator. New evidence shows reduced daily physical activity is a direct cause of many risk factors for chronic illnesses like diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Researchers at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, asked study participants to reduce the amount of steps they take to just 1,400 per day. Instead of walking or taking the stairs, they were instructed to use elevators, escalators and cars whenever possible. Many doctors recommend taking 10,000 steps a day for a healthy lifestyle, but the average American takes only 7,473 steps each day and inactive Americans -- just 2,100.
After two weeks, participants' glucose and fat levels increased greatly and their bodies took much longer than before to clear the substances from their blood streams. "When extra fats and sugars (glucose) don't clear the bloodstream, they go where we don't want them and cause problems for our bodies' typical metabolic functions," Frank Booth, Ph.D., a professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Missouri's College of Veterinary Medicine, was quoted as saying.
Researchers say study participants experienced accumulation of dangerous abdominal fat, elevated blood-lipids -- a sign of pre-diabetes -- and their total skeletal and muscle mass decreased.
"Previously, we thought that not exercising just wasn't healthy, but we didn't think that a lack of activity could cause disease," Dr. Booth said. "That assumption was wrong."
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SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2008;299:1261-1263
