March 15, 2004 – Sustained daily physical activities, such as manual working, moving and walking a lot, can help prevent obesity. This is according to a study carried out among the Amish, a religious group who made a living from working the land like our ancestors did 150 years ago, which has just been published in the journal Medicine & Science & Exercise.
Recent research has revealed that the Amish community has an obesity rate of just 4%, despite eating a diet of meat, potatoes, sauces, egg cakes and pies. Their secret: vigorous physical activity, in the form of working in the fields and on the farm, and walking, a lot of walking.
The study consisted of measuring the number of steps of 98 Amish adults, equipped with a pedometer, during their daily movements. It appears that the Amish men take 18,425 steps a day, and the women 14,196. A man had even walked 51,000 steps in a single day, plowing his field with a team of horses! In comparison, similar studies in Canada and the United States give an average of 2,000 to 3,000 steps per adult.
We also calculated the time spent in physical activity per week. Thus, Amish men do, each week, 10 hours of vigorous physical activity (lifting hay bales, digging, digging and plowing), 43 hours of moderate activity (gardening, feeding the animals) and 12 hours of walking; women do 3.5 hours of intense physical activity, 39 hours of moderate physical activity and 6 hours of walking.
The study did not include the food component, but previous studies had shown that the Amish eat a diet high in fat and sugar, and that they ingest an average of 3,600 calories per day, which is 50% more than the general population. Despite this, they keep extremely low rates of coronary heart disease, cancer, and obesity.
In Canada, almost half of adults are overweight, and 15% of them are obese; in the United States, 60% of adults are overweight, and of these, 30% are obese. Among the Amish who participated in the study, 25% of the men were overweight, but none were obese; of the 27% of women who were overweight, nine were obese.
Aline Charest – PasseportSanté.net
From the Globe and Mail
