Diet versus Exercise on Health
Alex Ripley
English 2A: Critical Thinking and Writing 2
Theresa Conefrey
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
We live in a world where personal wellbeing is extremely important to any individual. People are constantly looking for ways to improve their health and develop a healthier lifestyle. Any person can stumble across a study claiming, “Lose weight through these three steps,” or, “Have a healthier heart with our great product”. But with so many studies and products, how can a person know what will truly benefit their health? Although studies target many areas of healthy living, there are two areas that are commonly discussed: diet and exercise. Researchers, scientists, journalists, and nutritionists all have their own views on diet and exercise in regards to health. Many people advocate views on the importance of diet, while others emphasize the importance of exercise for a healthy lifestyle. Although exercise and diet are both important for a person’s health, diet has proven to be more important for a person’s health than exercise.
Healthy eating is much more effective in leading to weight loss. Studies have shown that exercise does not have as big of an effect on weight loss as a person might think. Dietitian Lainey Younkin of “Tufts Now” discusses a study in which researchers compared the daily expense of energy between two populations: Westerners and the Hadza(a group of Tanzanian hunter-gatherers)(Younkin, 2013). The Hadza spend their days hunting, gathering, and walking an average of 3-7 miles per day, while Westerners are known to lead a much more inactive lifestyle. Surprisingly, there was little difference between the daily calories burned by the two populations, indicating that a person’s level of activity may not have as big of an effect on weight loss as typically thought. Another study, discussed by dietician Erin Coleman, split a selection of obese subjects into two groups (Coleman, 2013). One group dieted and exercised for twelve months, while the other group dieted for twelve months, and exercised for only the last six months. A person would think that the first group would lose more weight (because they exercised for an extra six months), but in reality, both groups lost similar amounts of weight. These two studies exhibit that exercise may not have as big of a supposed impact, and that diet is better suited for the goal of losing weight.
Not only is healthy eating more fitted for weight loss, exercise can even lead to a negation of a person’s efforts towards weight loss. When a person exercises more, this often leads to a greater use of body energy. When a person uses more energy, this can lead to a greater sense of hunger within the individual. The LiveScience Staff quotes Richard Cooper, the chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, who says, “People burn more calories when they exercise. Thing is, they compensate by eating more”(LiveScience Staff, 2009, par. 10). So ultimately, the calories that are lost when a person exercises are often gained back in the hunger that later ensues. A person is often unaware of this circumstance, in which they do not realize that they are eating more. Added exercise produces additional hunger, and if a person eats whenever they are hungry, the exercise ultimately can lead to the negating of lost calories, or even in the gaining of calories. This extra eating may not even be related to the arising of extra hunger; it could be due to rewarding oneself for exercising. Most people have said something like “I can have that donut because I went for a run earlier.” This caloric reward for exercising creates an issue for a person’s health, because a person may be moving backwards (in regards to weight) if the donut has more calories than they burned on their run.
In regards to the affect of diet on health (as opposed to exercise), LiveScience also references a study conducted by researchers form Loyola University Health System. In this study, researchers compared African American women from metropolitan Chicago with women from rural Nigeria. Due to the thinner build of the Nigerian women, researchers thought that the Nigerian women must have been exercising more than the larger Chicagoan women. But after studying the two sets of women, researchers saw that the Nigerian women were not any more active than the women from Chicago. Amy Luke, a member of the Loyola researchers, said that “Decreased physical activity may not be the primary driver of the obesity epidemic…diet is a more likely explanation than physical activity expenditure for why Chicago women weigh more than Nigerian women” (LiveScience Staff, 2009, par. 7). Ultimately, Luke and her team showed that diet was most likely responsible for variations in weight, while exercise did not play as large of a role.
TomTom also conducted research to exhibit that diet plays a much larger role in obesity than exercise (“Obesity is Not Caused by a Lack of Exercise”, 2013). Surveying 8000 people in eight different countries, TomTom found that Americans were exercising more than any of the other countries, yet Americans were struggling the most with obesity. With these results TomTom stated, “Obesity is not caused by a lack of exercise. Much more important is the quality of your food, which determines how much you want to eat” (“Obesity is Not Caused by a Lack of Exercise”, 2013, par. 4). They used their research to distinguish the importance of diet above exercise in regards to how much a person weighs.
Other studies have shown that diet can benefit other aspects of a person’s health besides weight loss. For instance, studies have shown that changes in diet can have beneficial effects on circulating inflammatory markers in given subjects. Tore Christiansen reports a study in which 79 obese subjects were selected for a 12 week trial to observe the effect of diet and exercise on circulating inflammatory markers in adipose tissue and in skeletal muscle (Christiansen, 2010). These 79 subjects were divided into three groups to observe any effects on inflammatory marker circulation: Exercise only (EXO), Diet-induced weight loss only (DIO), and both exercise and diet-induced weight loss (DEX). After conducting the research, the researchers found “In AT biopsies, subjects in the DIO and DEX groups achieved a general beneficial… effect on the gene expression of inflammatory markers. In the EXO group, no changes in AT adipokine mRNA were found…” (Christiansen, 2010, pg. 1). This means that subjects with diet-induced weight loss saw beneficial effects on the circulating of inflammatory markers in their adipose tissue and skeletal muscle, while subjects in the “exercise only” group did not see any effects on the circulating of these inflammatory markers. Ultimately, this study shows that diet has been seen to have beneficial effects on a person’s health outside of just weight loss. Not only that, it also shows that exercise has been proven to not provide benefits in the same circumstances. This is significant because it distinguishes an example of the “upper hand” that diet has on exercise. If exercise could provide the same benefits as diet, than there would simply be evidence to promote both sides. But this study shows that diet can provide benefits in the same circumstances that exercise cannot, promoting that diet is more important than exercise in regards to a person’s health.
Other studies exhibit the effect (or lack thereof) of exercise on other aspects of a person’s health. For instance, studies have shown that added intensity of exercise can actually provide no improvement in a person’s blood lipid profile. In a Spanish study conducted by nutritionist Morencos, scientists observed the effect of varying exercise programs on subjects’ blood lipid levels (Morencos, 2012). This study observed 66 subjects over 22 weeks, who were divided into four different groups: supervised strength training, supervised endurance training, both supervised strength and supervised endurance training, and a “recommended” exercise group. The focus of the study was on exercise; so all subjects from the four groups received the same diets over the 22 weeks. The primary difference amongst the four groups was that certified personal trainers supervised the first three groups during all exercise, while the fourth group only received recommendations for their daily exercise. The supervised groups were demanded by their trainers to complete all training in regards to both quality and quantity. Not only were they at this demand, the researchers also made the exercise increasingly more strenuous over the 22 weeks, making the supervised exercise very demanding. The unsupervised group, on the other hand, were not supervised, nor regulated, in their exercise over the 22 weeks. This means they could exercise however they wanted, or not exercise at all. With variations among the three supervised groups, and the significant difference between the supervised and unsupervised groups, a person may think that there would be significant differences amongst the results of the four groups. In reality, this was not the case. Although blood lipid profile did improve in all groups, there were no significant differences between the baseline and post-training levels amongst the groups. This led the researchers to conclude that “an intervention program of supervised exercise combined with diet restriction did not achieved further improvements in blood lipid profile than diet restriction and physical activity recommendations” (Morencos, 2012, pg. 1916). This means that variations in exercise does not have as big of an effect on a person’s blood lipid profile as one might think. Although the more intense, supervised exercise did improve blood lipid profiles, it did not provide any different of an effect of the less intense, unsupervised, and unregulated exercise group. This study further substantiates the claim that exercise does not have as big of an effect on a person’s health as one might think. Although the study does show exercise provides improvements in blood lipid profile, it shows that minimal exercise can provide the same results as intense exercise. So, exercise can be shown to be important, but is seen as not being an enormous factor in the varying of its components.
Studies have observed the roots of obesity and the impact that diet and exercise have on the factors involved with obesity. For instance, some scientists have observed LDL particles and their connection with obesity. It has been seen that obesity can be connected with small LDL particle sizes, while those with larger LDL particle sizes are seen to be less obese. Studies have observed the impact of diet and exercise on LDL particle sizes to see what kind of influence they have on obesity. In a study conducted by Krista Varady, 60 subjects were given treatments of diet and exercise over twelve weeks to determine the influence on LDL particle size in the patients (Varady, 2011). These subjects were divided into four groups: Alternate day fasting (ADF), calorie restriction (CR), exercise, and control. Members in the ADF group were put on a fasting diet for every other day, and were allowed to eat freely on the other day. In the CR group, members were restricted in their diets for every day during the twelve weeks. Members in groups three and four were allowed to eat freely throughout the trial. In regards to exercise, only members of group three (the exercise group) were instructed in their exercise throughout the twelve weeks. These members participated in a supervised “moderate intensity” program three times every week, gradually increasing in intensity over the twelve weeks. After conducting the study, the scientists found that “Integrated LDL particle size increased…in response to ADF and CR only” (Varady, 2011, pg. 3). This conclusion showed that the programs involving diet led to an increase in LDL particle size, while the program involving increased exercise did not lead to an increase. This study connects diet to smaller LDL particle sizes, and thus to the prevention of obesity (larger LDL particle size is connected with obese people). Contrary to diet, exercise can thus not be connected to obesity in this study because increased exercise does not lead to smaller LDL particle size.
Many of these studies target a specific benefit that diet can provide, while ignoring many of the other aspects of the results that are provided after a given study. But in a study conducted by Hilde K. Brekke, she and her colleagues conducted a study in which they “[examined] the effects of Diet (D) and Exercise (E) interventions on cardiovascular fitness, waist circumference, blood lipids, glucose metabolism, inflammation markers, insulin-like growth fact 1 (IGF-1) and blood pressure in overweight and obese lactating women” (Brekke, 2014, pg.1). Instead of focusing on one aspect of health like the previously mentioned studies, Brekke and her colleagues focused on seven factors, making this study much more all-encompassing. In this study, 68 Swedish women were divided into four groups: D, E, both, and control. In the D group (diet), the women were instructed to decrease energy intake by 500 kcal per day in regards to diet, while women in the E (exercise) group were instructed to go on four 45 minute walks per week. Those in the “both” group were involved in actions similar to both the D and E groups, while the control group was given no instruction in regards to diet and exercise. Members of the four groups participated in this study for 12 weeks, after which they were measured in changes in the seven listed components. Researchers found that the diet treatment decreased weight circumference, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and fasting insulin, while the exercise and “both” treatment did not produce any observed effects. With the results of the study, the researchers were also able to conclude that effects of the diet treatment improved risk factors for cardiovascular disease, as well as type 2 diabetes. Going beyond one factor, this study was able to connect diet to several beneficial factors in regards to a person’s health, while at the same time concluding that exercise does not provide any of these same benefits.
Overall, diet and exercise both affect a person’s health in given ways. But which has more of an affect on a person’s health? Some people claim that diet affects a person’s health more, while others claim exercise does. It can be seen that both diet and exercise are vital for a person in maintaining their wellbeing, but ultimately, diet has been shown to have more of an impact on improving a person’s health.
Works Cited
(2013, January 2). Obesity is Not Caused by a Lack of Exercise. Diet Doctor. Retrieved from http://www.dietdoctor.com/obesity-caused-lack-exercise.
This article claims that obesity is not caused by a lack of exercise, showing that Americans exercise a great amount, yet greatly struggle with obesity.
Brekke, H. K., Bertz, F., Rasmussen, K. M., Bosaeus, I., Ellegard, L., & Winkvist, A. (2014).
Diet and Exercise Interventions among Overweight and Obese Lactating Women:
Randomized Trial of Effects on Cardiovascular Risk Factors. PLoS ONE, 9(2), 1-8. doi:
10.1371/journal.pone.0088250\
This journal article claims that diet can improve risks of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in obese lactating women, while exercise can not.
Christiansen, T., Paulsen, S. K., Bruun, J. M., Pedersen, S. B., & Richelsen, B. (2010). Exercise training versus diet-induced weight-loss on metabolic risk factors and inflammatory markers in obese subjects: a 12-week randomized intervention study. American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology & Metabolism, 61(4), E824-E831. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00574.2009
This journal articles discusses the effect of exercise and diet on circulation. tissues, muscles in obese subjects.
Coleman, E. (2013, October 21). Diet May Be More Important Than Exercise. Livestrong.
Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/408117-diet-may-be-more-important-than-exercise.
This article discusses that both diet and exercise are important to health, but diet is more important in regards to weight loss.
LiveScience Staff. (2009, January 6). Diet, not exercise, plays key role in weight loss. NBC
News. Retrieved from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/28524942/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/t/diet-not-exercise-plays-key-role-weight-loss/#.U2LxK61dWd9.
This article discusses the role of exercise and diet on weight loss, claiming that diet (not exercise) is most important for weight loss.
Morencos, E., Romero, B., Peinado, A. B., Gonzalez-Gross, M., Fernandez, C., Gomez-
Candela, C., & Benito, P. J. (2012). Effects of dietary restriction combined with different exercise programs or physical activity recommendations on blood lipids in overweight adults. EFECTOS DE LA RESTRICCION DIETETICA COMBINADA CON DIFERENTES PROGRAMAS DE EJERCICIO O ACTIVIDAD FISICA SOBRE LOS LIPIDOS SANGUINEOS EN ADULTOS CON SOBREPESO., 27(6), 1916-1927. doi: 10.3305/nh.2012.27.6.6057
This journal article compares the impact of diet and exercise with clinical practices on weight loss.
Varady, K. A., Bhutani, S., Klempel, M. C., & Kroeger, C. M. (2011). Comparison of effects of diet versus exercise weight loss regimens on LDL and HDL particle size in obese adults. Lipids in Health & Disease, 10(1), 119-123. doi: 10.1186/1476-511X-10-119
This journal articles discusses the effect of diet and exercise on LDL and HDL particle size through weight loss.
Younkin, L. (2013, January 31). Is dieting or exercise better for losing weight? Tufts
Now. Retrieved from http://now.tufts.edu/articles/dieting-or-exercise-better-losing-weight.
This article discusses the effect of exercise and diet on weight loss, claiming that
exercise may not have as big of an effect as typically thought.