Poor Diet & Lack of Exercise can Increase Aging

In a recent study by Mayo Clinic Robert and Arlene Kogod Centre on Aging, researchers found a link of how a poor diet and lack of exercise accelerated cellular deterioration and in turn led to age related conditions in mice.

"We think at both a biological and clinical level, poor nutritional choices and inactive lifestyles do accelerate aging", says Nathan LeBrasseur PHD, Director of the Centre on Aging's Healthy and Independent Living Program and Senior Author of the study. 

Researchers introduced mice to either a normal, healthy diet or a 'fast food diet' one, which was high in saturated fat and cholesterol, with a sugar sweetened drink.







They found the mice on a high fat diet showed an increase in body weight and composition, an increase in fat % by 300%, over a course of 4 months.  Fat mass was mainly stored in the mid section surrounding the internal organs, an area which is associated with a number of diseases related to obesity such as heart disease.

Half the mice were given exercise wheels, including those on the 'fast food diet' with both groups benefitting from exercise.  Those mice on the unhealthy diet showed a decrease in weight gain and fat mass and were protected against the accumulation of deteriorating cells.

However you can never out run a poor diet and a combination of both a healthy diet and moderate exercise is the key to living a healthier and longer life with the characteristics associated with youth such as increased energy levels, flexibility, stamina, muscular strength and stronger bones.