Avoiding cardiovascular disease (CVD) as one ages is not as difficult as sometimes thought. That's according to the results of a study that suggests that simply maintaining weight and fitness levels as one ages could be enough to stave off CVD.

The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, looked at the independent and combined associations of changes in fitness and fatness and the subsequent presence of the CVD risk factors hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and hypercholesterolemia.

The study followed over 3,100 healthy adults who were in their early 40s, on average, at the beginning. Each participant received a minimum of three medical examinations. Changes in fitness and fatness between the first and second examinations were noted and study participants were categorized into either loss, stable, or gain groups. Researchers used a maximal treadmill test to gauge fitness and used percent body fat and body mass index calculations to measure fatness.

Over the course of six years, participants developed high blood pressure at a rate of four percent each year, high cholesterol at a rate of three percent per year and what is known as metabolic syndrome (a group of risk factors for heart disease, including high blood pressure and high blood sugar) at a rate of about two percent each year.

The researchers found that those participants who either improved or maintained their levels of fitness were less likely to develop risk factors such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

The study also showed that when compared with those in the study who gained weight over time, people who maintained their weight showed fewer warning signs for CVD.

The results of the study suggest that people who were able to maintain their fitness levels over time seemed to avoid some of the negative effects of weight gain.

Another finding was that a loss in fitness level was not as bad if that person also shed some extra body fat. Even so, people who kept up or improved their fitness levels had lower chances of developing these same heart risk factors. Their risks of high blood pressure or high cholesterol were 26 percent to 30 percent lower, compared with those in the study whose fitness levels dropped.

Conversely, the study found that when people increased their percentage of body fat over time, they were more likely to develop heart risk factors. For each one percent increase in body fat, the odds of those risk factors increased from three percent to eight percent.

The study adds to an ever-growing body of evidence that staying or becoming active is one of the best ways to stay in good cardiovascular health.

Source:

Lee DC, Sui X, Church TS, et al. Changes in fitness and fatness on the development of cardiovascular disease risk factors. J Am Coll Cardiol 2012; 59:665-672. DOI:10.1016.j.jacc.2011.11.013

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