You know the admonitions. I repeated many of them just yesterday.
We are way beyond couch potatoes- that’s why we are obese. And, I’ve written often (and I follow that advice) to keep active- even at my age. We are admonished to walk six miles a week (ok, I ride at least 12…) I’ve already reported that sitting 10 hours a day does wonders- if we want to develop cardiac disease or wish to die early. (Yes, this data is correlative and not causative…as will be this new revelation below.)
Drs. S. Ryu, Y. Chang, H-S. Jung, K. Yun, M-J. Kwon, Y. Choi, C-W. Kim, J. Cho, B-S. Suh, Y. Cho, E. Chung, H. Shin, [all from Kangbuk Samsung Hospital] and Y. Kim [Seoul University] published their study, Relationship of sitting time and physical activity with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, in the Journal of Hepatology. (Actually, it is in press as of this writing.)
The authors examined the data from 139056 Korean subjects (average age of 39.9 years, all of whom had experienced health exams between 2011 to 2013), in particular regarding their liver functionality, their sedentary characteristics, and their physical activity. Of these subjects, more than ¼ (39,257) manifested non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (as determined by ultrasound). Those who sat less than 5 hours a day were not really among these affected populations. Moreover, this disease state manifested even if the subjects had fairly low BMI (under 23 kg per square meter); we normally use BMI as an indicator for these sort of health problems.
Folks who sat for 10 or more hours a day were about 9% more likely to manifest NAFLD, when compared to those who sat for 5 hours or less. If the folks were physically active, they were 20% less likely to manifest the disease. This situation becomes more grave when you realize there are no drugs to treat NAFLD on the market today. (The incidence rate for NAFLD in adults in the States is 13%, by the way.)
When you add these new risks to the potentiality for insulin resistance, the diabetes link mentioned yesterday, and lower cardiovascular function, it’s clear we need to keep moving. Getting up after sitting for two hours is a start- but those 6 mile a week walks and bicycle rides – those 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week- or even 10,000 steps a day are pretty essential.
