Cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, and all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality in men

Abstract

The health benefits of leanness are limited to fit men, and being fit may reduce the hazards of obesity.

Aerobic fitness, body mass index, and CVD risk factors among adolescents: the Québec family study

“…These results support those found in adults. 11,42 Thus, fitness provides benefits even among adolescent subjects with a higher BMI.…”

“…8,9 In adults, overweight and low levels of aerobic fitness are independently associated with an increased risk of CVD mortality. 10,11 It has thus been suggested that aerobic fitness should be considered in examining the relationship between body composition and chronic disease morbidity and mortality, as being aerobically fit may reduce the health consequences of obesity. 11,12 In children and adolescents, correlations are generally low (ro0.30) between aerobic fitness, body composition, and CVD risk factors.…”

“…10,11 It has thus been suggested that aerobic fitness should be considered in examining the relationship between body composition and chronic disease morbidity and mortality, as being aerobically fit may reduce the health consequences of obesity. 11,12 In children and adolescents, correlations are generally low (ro0.30) between aerobic fitness, body composition, and CVD risk factors. [13][14][15][16] However, significant differences in CVD risk factors usually exist at the extremes (ie, least vs most fit or normal vs overweight).…”

Is weight loss the optimal target for obesity-related cardiovascular disease risk reduction?

“…Results of other prospective studies in men and women further suggest that high levels of physical activity protect against the incidence of coronary artery disease, independent of BMI, as well as other factors such as age, smoking, diabetes and hypertension (62). Furthermore, prospective analyses from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study have consistently reported that CRF is a significant predictor of mortality from all causes (9,10,63,64), CVD (9,10) and type 2 diabetes (65) in men and women, independent of BMI or WC. These relationships have been confirmed in older adults (66) and Canadian women (67).…”

“…Although exercise-induced weight loss is associated with attenuated CVD risk, several lines of evidence suggest that weight loss is not absolutely necessary to observe substantial benefit. First, it is well established that increasing physical activity and associated improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) are associated with profound reductions in coronary artery disease and CVD mortality, independent of weight or BMI (9,10). Second, acute and chronic exercise is associated with substantial reductions in several cardiometabolic risk factors despite minimal or no change in body weight (11)(12)(13).…”