Diet Mail Diet Mail- August 2014 | Page 3

RECENT NUTRITIONAL STUDY Running just 5-10 minutes a day could increase life expectancy The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend adults engage in high-intensity exercise, such as running, for a minimum of 75 minutes a week. But a new study from Iowa State University suggests that running at a slow speed for just 5-10 minutes a day can significantly reduce mortality risk, and running for any longer may actually do more harm than good. The research team, led by Duck-Chul "D.C" Lee, an assistant professor of kinesiology at Iowa State, recently published their findings in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. For their study, Lee and colleagues assessed the data of 55,137 adults between the ages of 18 and 100 years, who were followed up for an average of 15 years. Participants' physical activity habits were disclosed through a medical history questionnaire. The team also analyzed the causes of any deaths that occurred during the follow-up, before looking at the amount of exercise each individual participated in every week. Running could add 3 years to life expectancy During the follow-up period, 3,413 participants died from all-causes, while 1,217 died from cardiovascular causes . Of these, 24 % participated in running on a weekly basis. The team found that participants who engaged in running each week were 30% less likely to die from all-causes and 45% less likely to die from cardiovascular causes, compared with those who did not participate in running. Overall, runners were likely to live 3 years longer than non-runners. But most interestingly, the researchers found that these reduced mortality risks were the same among participants who ran less than an hour a week and those who ran more than 3 hours a week. Even those who ran 5-10 minutes a day at a slow speed showed significantly reduced all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risk, compared with non-runners, according to the team. Lee says: "Running is good for your health, but more may not be bet ѕȸ