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Spouted Baby Food Pouches More Like Sugary Drinks/Smoothies than Nutritious Food

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They are high in sugar, low in nutrients, and too thin, finds analysis of UK products.
Current labelling as complementary food source needs regulatory review, say researchers.

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Commercial baby foods in spouted pouches – intended to boost nutritional intake from the age of 6 months onwards – are often more like sugary drinks and smoothies than nutritious food, finds an analysis of UK products, published online in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

They are often higher in sugar and lower in nutrient density than breast milk or formula, as well as frequently lacking the texture needed to help babies learn to eat solid foods, the analysis shows.

These pouches are currently labelled as a complementary food to be used alongside breast milk or formula, but the findings prompt the researchers to question whether this labelling is appropriate and to call for a regulatory review of these products.

Breast milk alone supplies all the key nutrients needed up to the age of around 6 months. After that, complementary foods are essential for establishing healthy food preferences, optimal growth, and long term health, as well as for helping babies learn how to eat solid foods, explain the researchers.

Complementary foods should have an increasingly solid texture and be more energy and nutrient dense than breast milk, they add. But while spouted pouches have become the dominant packaging for commercial baby foods, it’s not clear if their content fulfils these criteria, particularly as the contents need to be thin enough to pass through the spout.

To find out, the researchers reviewed the commercial baby foods available in 6 large hypermarkets, serving families in Glasgow, Scotland in October and November 2024.

In all, they found 298 products from 16 manufacturers, of which 178 (60%) were spouted pouches.  

All these pouches were labelled as suitable for children under 12 months; two-thirds were aimed at babies aged 6 months or younger—counter to official recommendations. Of the other products, 46 (38%) were aimed at infants aged 12 months or more.  

Foods were categorised relative to breast milk for energy, protein, and sugar content, and defined as suitable for complementary feeding if they were: a purée or solid food which would enable weaning; more energy and protein dense than breast milk; had a sugar content no higher than breast milk.  

Food texture was rated by two assessors for 284 (95%) of all the products. Half of the spouted pouches (49%) were liquids (score 1–3, where 0 is thin, and 4 is very thick) compared with 7% of the other products.

Only 10% of the spouted pouches were soft foods, compared with more than three-quarters (77%) of the other products.  

“The texture and manner of complementary feeding is important,” emphasise the researchers. “While suckling is an innate characteristic, the oromotor skills required for the manipulation of solid food in the mouth must be learnt experientially.  

“For that reason, recommendations suggest that first foods offered should progress from purées to lumpy, mashed, and finger foods. For pouches specifically, not only do they deliver a thin food that can be swallowed with little oromotor manipulation, but they are also often consumed by sucking from the spout, rather than from a spoon,” they add.

Overall, the available baby foods had an average energy content of 66.5 kcal/100 g, with only 35% above that for breast milk (65–70 kcal/100 g).

Only half (52%) of spouted pouches had a protein content higher than the range for breast milk..

In common with most of the other baby foods, only around a third of the spouted pouches had more energy per weight than breast milk, even though  61% had higher sugar content than breast milk. This compares with only 8% of the other baby foods.

“High sugar intakes in early childhood have long-term health implications, both in terms of dental health and overweight,” point out the researchers. 

In all, only 14 (8.5%) of the spouted pouches were defined as being completely suitable for a complementary food in that they met all the desired criteria; 48 (29%) met none. By contrast, 37 (32%) of the other wet baby foods met all the desired criteria; only 2 (2%) met none.

The researchers acknowledge various limitations to their findings. For example, they had no data on actual consumption, and the assessment of nutrient content was limited to the information provided by the manufacturers, with iron content, which is a key nutrient, rarely stated.

But they nevertheless conclude: “Products delivered in [spouted] pouches generally do not meet the desired characteristics of complementary foods. Many are more similar to sweet fruit smoothies, which are not recommended at all for babies or preschool children.

“Our findings suggest that regulators should consider whether a change in product categorisation and labelling is needed to make clear which products are foods and which are drinks, to discourage the use of [these pouches] and to enable parents to make informed choices in line with public health recommendations for feeding infants and young children.”

Source: The BMJ Group

Categories : Exercise PaediatricsTags :

More Screen Time Since Childhood Linked to Better Cognitive Processing in Adolescence

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Photo by Steinar Engeland on Unsplash

A study conducted at the Universities of Jyväskylä and Eastern Finland, found the surprising result that more screen time since childhood was associated with better cognitive processing in adolescence. According to one of the researchers, we should not regard screen time solely as harmful. The most important thing is to find a balance between physical activity and screen time that promotes active thinking.

Adolescents’ scarce physical activity is a major challenge in terms of public health. Sedentary lifestyle has been shown to decrease school achievement, while physical activity is known to promote brain functions especially for adults. However, there is little research evidence about the connections of physical activity and sedentary time in childhood and adolescence with regard to cognitive processing in adolescence, although these life stages are pivotal for brain development. Various factors that influence cognitive processing in childhood and adolescence can be reflected far into adulthood also in terms of educational choices and working life. 

The study investigated how physical activity, sedentary behaviour and screen time from childhood to adolescence are associated with cognitive processing in adolescence and whether there are any sex differences in these connections. In addition, the researchers also examined the role of the intensity of physical activity in this respect. 

Screen time can support thinking and learning 

According to the findings, higher amount of screen time since childhood were connected to better cognitive processing in adolescence.  

“The findings suggest that screen time can support children’s and adolescents’ cognitive processing. Presumably, the essential point here is what kind of things they do in their screen time. Teachers and parents should encourage children to use devices and screens in such ways that promote active thinking, problem-solving, creativity and learning,” states Doctoral Researcher Petri Jalanko from the University of Jyväskylä. 

“We should not regard screen time solely as harmful but seek balance between physical activity and screen time that promotes active thinking,” Jalanko summarises. 

Physical activity and sedentary time associated in complex ways with cognitive processing 

In girls, the higher amount of light-intensity physical activity since childhood was associated with better working memory in adolescence. In boys, then again, higher amount of guided physical activity from childhood to adolescence was associated with better working memory in adolescence. 

Surprisingly, lesser self-reported unsupervised physical activity was connected to better cognitive processing in adolescence. Instead, physical activity or sedentary time as measured by a heart rate and movement sensor were not associated with cognitive processing. The differences may be explained by the fact that the heart rate and movement sensors cannot tell what a person is actually doing during the physical activity and sedentary periods. 

“Our study indicates that the connections of physical activity and sedentary behaviour to cognitive processing are complex and depend on the sex, the type and assessment method of physical activity and sedentary time. Moreover, boys and girls may benefit from different types of physical activity in view of brain health, Jalanko adds. 

“However, we need more intervention studies to find out causal relations and sex differences in this respect. Moreover, it is important to examine more specifically the effects of the intensity of physical activity on changes taking place in cognitive processing.”

The findings are based on an eight-year follow-up of the PANIC study on children’s physical activity and nutrition. The current study involved 124 girls and 136 boys, whose average age was 15.8 years. Physical activity and sedentary behaviour were measured by a device that combined heart rate and movement measurements and also by a survey questionnaire. Learning, attention and working memory were assessed by means of the CogState test battery. The research article is published in the Pediatric Exercise Science journal. 

Source: University of Finland

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Just 15 Minutes of Extra Activity Cuts Cancer Risk

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Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Unsplash

Replacing 15 minutes of sleep or sedentary behaviour with 15 minutes of movement are each linked to a two per cent reduced risk of cancer, new research from University College London has found.

The new study, published in BMC Medicine, analysed the records of 59218 people (55% female) with an average age of 61.7 from the UK Biobank, a database of half a million volunteers taking part in medical research.

Smartwatches were used to track the movement of the daily movements of those people and, over an eight-year follow-up, some 2,385 cancers occurred in the group. Modelling was used to see how differences in daily movement was linked to cancer risk.

Previous research by other researchers has found strong evidence that higher levels of activity are linked to a lower risk of several cancers – including of the bladder, breast, bowel, kidney and stomach.

The UCL study, led by Dr John Mitchell (UCL Division of Surgery and Interventional Science), looked at areas such as how long people spent sleeping, sedentary behaviour such as watching TV, standing and then any movement and at what intensity.

They found that the more people moved, the lower their risk of cancer.

For example, replacing 15 minutes of sleep or sedentary behaviour with 15 minutes of movement were each linked to a 2% reduced risk of cancer.

Conversely, swapping 30 minutes of movement for 30 minutes of sedentary behaviour increased the risk by 8%, while swapping it for sleep increased the risk by 7%.

This was not just about doing more exercise, Dr Mitchell said, but how everyday activities like running for a bus or carrying home heavy bags of groceries can help maintain a healthy lifestyle which reduce your risk of getting cancer.

Dr Mitchell said: “We are tending towards what we call 24-hour movement guidelines where individuals have a menu of possible options which they can adapt to their lifestyle in order to help them mitigate their risk of disease over time.

“Our study showed that there’s an increased risk of cancer for those who spend a lot of time sitting down.

“We also explored what might happen if people leading active lives reduced their levels of physical activity and found that they also face a higher cancer risk.

“Based on theoretical modelling, our study showed even losing two to three minutes per day of vigorous activity, such as running for a bus, and replacing it with sitting down, sleep or light activity increased their cancer risk.

“Other examples of vigorous activity – that is, anything which elevates your heart rate and makes you sweat – include sport, rushing up the stairs and carrying home heavy grocery bags.

“The take-home message is that for people already leading physically active lives, it’s really important to maintain that level of activity as you get older.

Current NHS guidelines say adults should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity a week.

They should also do strength activities that work all the major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms) on at least two days per week.

Examples of moderate activity include very brisk walking (4mph or faster), cycling at 10mph-12mph, or badminton. Vigorous activity also includes hiking, jogging at 6mph or faster, fast cycling, basketball or tennis.

    Source: University College London

    Categories : Exercise Mental HealthTags :

    Can Sports Help Improve Motor Skills in Children with Autism?

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    Photo by Thao LEE on Unsplash

    Research suggests that more than half of children with autism spectrum disorder, a neurodevelopmental condition, experience motor impairments. An analysis in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology indicates that sports-based interventions may improve motor skills in children with autism spectrum disorder, with martial arts and aquatic training demonstrating the most consistent benefits.

    The analysis was based on data from 11 clinical trials of various sports. Martial arts demonstrated consistently large improvements in balance, total motor skills, and object control skills, with especially strong effects in Tai Chi Chuan and kata programs. Aquatic training demonstrated large improvements across balance, locomotor skills, and object control skills. Gymnastics and trampoline interventions demonstrated large improvements in balance and bilateral coordination, with additional effects on total motor scores in trampoline studies. Table tennis produced broad gross motor improvements, and Australian football had a large effect on object control skills and had a medium effect on balance and total motor skills. Across all sports categories, balance was the most consistently improved motor domain.

    The authors noted that many of the studies had significant limitations, however, and higher-quality studies are needed.

    “Organized sports-based interventions may offer benefits beyond recreation for children with autism by supporting motor skill development,” said corresponding author Sonia Khurana, PT, PhD, of Old Dominion University. “While our review identified promising effects, particularly for martial arts and aquatic training, larger and more rigorous studies are needed to confirm these benefits and guide evidence-based recommendations.”

    Source: Wiley

    Categories : Exercise Metabolic DisordersTags :

    Muscles Matter for Diabetes Risk, New Study Finds

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    Photo by John Arano on Unsplash

    A major new international study led by Curtin University, has found diabetes risk is about more than just body weight or obesity, revealing muscle health also likely plays a big role in whether people will develop the condition.

    Published in one of the world’s leading diabetes journals, Diabetes Care, the study saw researchers from the Curtin School of Population Health and Dementia Centre of Excellence at the Curtin enAble Institute analyse health data from nearly 480 000 adults over 14 years – all of whom were diabetes-free at the beginning of the study.

    The team found people with both excess body fat and poor muscle health – a condition known as sarcopenic obesity – were more than three-and-a-half times as likely to develop type 2 diabetes than people with healthy body composition.

    It also found people with sarcopenic obesity were 19 per cent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than people with obesity alone and 91 per cent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than people with low muscle mass and strength (sarcopenia) alone.

    Lead author and PhD candidate Zhongyang Guan said the findings challenge the common perception diabetes risk is primarily driven by body weight.

    “Most people know carrying excess weight can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, but our findings show muscle health is also an important piece of the puzzle,” Mr Guan said.

    “People with both excess body fat and low muscle mass had a substantially higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those with obesity alone.

    “This suggests we need to look beyond the number on the scales when assessing diabetes risk, as maintaining muscle strength and muscle mass may be just as important as managing body weight.”

    The study found nearly 15 per cent of people with sarcopenic obesity developed type 2 diabetes within 10 years, compared with around 11 per cent of people with obesity alone and just 3 per cent of people without sarcopenia or obesity.

    The link was particularly strong among women and adults under the age of 60.

    Project senior lead Professor Mario Siervo said the results supported a broader approach to diabetes prevention.

    “Healthcare professionals routinely monitor body weight and obesity, but our findings suggest assessing muscle health could help identify people at high risk earlier,” Professor Siervo said.

    “As populations age and rates of obesity continue to rise, preserving muscle health through regular physical activity and healthy lifestyle habits could play an important role in reducing the burden of type 2 diabetes.”

    Diabetes WA Clinical Services Manager Jessica Weiss said the findings highlighted the important role muscle plays in controlling blood sugar levels and reflected what health practitioners were seeing firsthand.

    “We know our muscles use a lot of our glucose for fuel and working them during physical activity is a great way to help use up glucose from our blood and regulate glucose levels,” Ms Weiss said.

    “Physical activity also reduces our body’s resistance to insulin, an important element to type 2 diabetes.

    “The more muscle we have and the more regularly we use them, the better equipped our body is to prevent or manage type 2 diabetes.”

    By Samuel Jeremic

    Source: Curtin University

    Categories : Ageing ExerciseTags :

    Research Finds Best Exercise Type to Preserve Muscle in Seniors

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    By Julie Schomberg

    Photo by Barbara Olsen on Pexels

    High intensity interval training (HIIT) may be the optimal exercise for reducing body fat while maintaining muscle mass in older adults, according to new research led by Australian academics.

    “We found that high, medium and low intensity exercises all led to modest fat loss but only HIIT retained lean muscle,” said lead author and exercise physiologist Dr Grace Rose of the University of the Sunshine Coast.

    The study examined how the intensity of different exercises could influence body composition in healthy older adults.

    “While moderate training reduced fat mass, it also caused a small decline in lean muscle,” she said. “Both high and moderate intensities improved the composition of weight carried around the middle. Further analysis is needed of the low intensity results.” Dr Rose said the findings were particularly useful because body composition was implicated in the progression of many chronic diseases as people aged.

    More than 120 healthy older adults from the Greater Brisbane region participated in the study, completing three exercise sessions a week in the gym for six months. 

    Their average age was 72 years old and average body mass index was 26kg/m2, categorised as normal for people aged over 65.

    UniSC Associate Professor of Physiology and co-author Mia Schaumberg welcomed the the paper published in the journal Maturitas, with collaborators including UniSC’s Healthy Ageing Research Cluster and The University of Queensland.

    “High intensity training in this study involved repeated short bursts, or intervals, of very hard exercise – where breathing is heavy and conversation is difficult – alternated with easier recovery periods. More than 120 healthy older adults from the Greater Brisbane region participated in the study, completing three exercise sessions a week in the gym for six months. 

    Their average age was 72 years old and average body mass index was 26kg/m2, categorised as normal for people aged over 65.

    UniSC Associate Professor of Physiology and co-author Mia Schaumberg welcomed the timing of the paper published in the journal Maturitas, with collaborators including UniSC’s Healthy Ageing Research Cluster and The University of Queensland.

    “High intensity training in this study involved repeated short bursts, or intervals, of very hard exercise – where breathing is heavy and conversation is difficult – alternated with easier recovery periods,” she said.

    “HIIT likely works better because it puts more stress on the muscles, giving the body a stronger signal to keep muscle tissue rather than lose it.”

    Source: University of the Sunshine Coast

    Categories : Cardiovascular Disease ExerciseTags :

    Irregular Heartbeat Risk Much Lower in Super‑fit People than Previously Thought

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    Our study shows that atrial fibrillation risk in very fit people is smaller than previously thought. Pexels Photo by Freestocksorg

    Axel Carl Carlsson, Karolinska Institutet; Marcel Ballin, Uppsala University, and Peter Nordström, Uppsala University

    Exercise is important for your heart and cardiovascular health. But for years, research has suggested that very fit people – particularly young men – have a higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation (an irregular heartbeat) later in life than less athletic people do.

    But our new large-scale study of more than one million young Swedish men challenges this long-held concern about fitness and heart health. The study shows that atrial fibrillation risk in very fit people is smaller than previously thought. And, importantly, the benefits of being fit – such as having lower rates of other cardiovascular diseases, such as stroke and heart attack – clearly outweigh the potential downsides.

    To conduct our study, we analysed data from over one million Swedish men. Each of these men had completed a military conscription test between 1972 and 1995 when they were around 18 years old. During conscription, fitness was estimated using a maximal ergometer bicycle test.

    We followed the participants using national health registries until 2023. Information was collected on diagnoses in specialised outpatient and inpatient care, as well as information on cause of death where relevant.

    Nearly half a million of these men were siblings, allowing the team to compare brothers with different fitness levels. This method also helped control for shared genetics and upbringing to better understand risk.

    In the population-wide analysis, where all men were compared based on their fitness levels, the fittest men did show a higher risk of atrial fibrillation until age 40. After 45, however, the benefits – fewer other heart problems – started to outweigh the risk.

    But the sibling analysis told a different story. When comparing brothers, the link between high fitness and atrial fibrillation weakened significantly. The net positive effect of fitness on overall heart and cardiovascular health, although also weakening in the sibling analysis, was still evident from the start.

    These benefits grew larger as the men aged. Across five decades of follow-up – from the age of 18 until the age of 65 – the benefits of being highly fit outweighed the overall risk of developing atrial fibrillation at all ages.

    An advantage of our study is that we were able to compare siblings. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels

    While the higher risk of atrial fibrillation in the fittest men weakened in the sibling analysis, an elevated risk did remain. However, this risk was small overall. The potential risk of developing atrial fibrillation was also far outweighed by the positive benefits that being fit had on reducing risk of other cardiovascular diseases.

    There was also some evidence that the increased risk of atrial fibrillation seemed to be driven by typically milder forms of atrial fibrillation.

    Cardiovascular benefits of fitness

    These findings suggest that earlier studies may have overestimated the risk of developing atrial fibrillation if you’re very fit because they couldn’t fully account for shared familial factors – such as genes and shared environmental factors – that may influence both fitness and heart health.

    Because our study was able to account for these shared factors, we were able to show that we should potentially tone down the message that being very fit or engaging in endurance exercise poses a big risk to heart health. The risk of atrial fibrillation isn’t zero, but the benefits to heart health more generally are far greater.

    Our results have also been confirmed in previous studies. However, our research builds upon this prior evidence by incorporating the sibling comparisons in the analyses, showing that the atrial fibrillation risk becomes weaker.

    Our study also performed a more detailed examination of risk over time by following up with participants over a longer period of time, while also considering the benefits of high fitness. As such, our research has performed a more direct comparison of benefits and harms throughout life.

    Overall, our research illustrates just how beneficial physical fitness is for overall cardiovascular health. Although very fit people do have a slightly higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation compared to people who are less fit, this risk of far lower than previously thought.

    Plus, we show that the overall net benefits of fitness on cardiovascular health more broadly far outweigh any potential risk.

    Axel Carl Carlsson, Researcher, Department of Neurobiology, Karolinska Institutet; Marcel Ballin, Associated Researcher, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, and Peter Nordström, Professor, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

    Categories : Cardiovascular Disease ExerciseTags :

    90-120 Weekly Minutes of Strength Training May Be Optimal for Lowering Death Risk

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    Specifically tied to significantly lower risks of cardiovascular and neurological disease deaths
    Effects amplified by aerobic exercise, but no further risk reduction above 120 minutes

    Photo by John Arano on Unsplash

    Clocking up 90 to 120 weekly minutes of strength (resistance) training may be the sweet spot for lowering the risk of death, suggests a 30 year study, published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

    The effects were amplified by the addition of aerobic exercise, but no further benefit was apparent above 120 minutes a week of strength training – an amount that was specifically associated with, respectively, 19% and 27% lower risks of dying from cardiovascular and neurological diseases.

    The benefits of aerobic physical activity on lowering the risk of death are well known, but less clear is the role of muscle strengthening exercise in reducing the risks of death from all and specific causes, solely or jointly with aerobic exercise, say the researchers.

    To explore this further, they drew on 30 years of monitoring data from 3 large groups of study participants: the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, 1992–2022; the Nurses’ Health Study, 2002–21; and  the Nurses’ Health Study II, 2003–21, comprising a total of 147,374 participants (31,540 men and 115,834 women).

    Participants were quizzed every 2 years on the amount of time they spent on strength training and aerobic exercise every week for up to 30 years. Aerobic exercise included brisk walking, running, jogging, swimming, cycling, tennis, squash, strenuous outdoor work and stair climbing, while strength training included exercises using weights or body weight, such as press ups, squats, and lunges.

    The average age of participants at study entry was 54. Those who clocked up more strength training tended to be younger, weigh less, have a healthier lifestyle, and do more aerobic exercise than those who did no strength training.

    Three quarters (74%) of participants did more than the recommended 150 minutes/week of moderate intensity aerobic exercise, measured as 7.5 MET hours over the long term. METs express the amount of calories expended per minute of physical activity, relative to calories expended at rest. And nearly half (46%) of participants did some strength training.

    During the 30 year monitoring period, 35,798 study participants died. A higher weekly long term level of strength training was associated with a lower risk of death.

    After adjusting for potentially influential factors, 90–119 minutes/week of strength training was associated with a 13% lower risk of death from any cause, with no further benefit observed above 120 minutes/week.

    And 90-119 weekly minutes of strength training was specifically associated with a 19% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, and a 27% lower risk of dying from neurological disease.

    A reduced risk of cancer was seen only at lower levels: 1–29 mins/week (21% lower) and 30–59 mins/week (18% lower).

    Compared with those participants with fewer than 7.5 MET hours/week of aerobic exercise and no strength training, those doing 1–59 and 60–119 mins/week of strength training alone had a 7–11% lower risk of death.

    Aerobic activity alone at any level above 7.5 MET hours/week was associated with a 26–43% lower risk of death.

    And the lowest risk was observed among those with both high aerobic activity and strength training levels every week: 45% lower risk for 30-44 MET hours/week of aerobic exercise plus 60–119 mins/week of strength training, and 53%-58% lower risks among those with 45+ MET hours/week of aerobic activity, irrespective of strength training level.

    This is an observational study, and as such, no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect. And the researchers acknowledge various limitations to their study.

    These include the self reported nature of the data; the exclusion of strength training activities, such as calisthenics and Pilates; no information on the duration of each exercise session or the intensity of strength training, any or all of which might have influenced the findings.

    Nevertheless they conclude: “Our findings on different dose-response relationships between long-term resistance training with all-cause and cause-specific mortality suggest that different amounts of resistance training may be needed to optimise benefits across outcomes.

    “The observed pattern that adding resistance training further reduced mortality risk across all levels of aerobic activity up to 45 MET hours/week supports current recommendations encouraging both types of activity to maximise mortality benefits.”

    Source: The BMJ Group

    Categories : ExerciseTags :

    Early Fitness Linked to Healthier Arteries

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    Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Unsplash

    People with good physical fitness in their 30s and 50s have more elastic arteries later in life. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in the journal Scientific Reports. The association remains regardless of cholesterol levels and other risk factors.

    Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. One early sign of increased risk is stiffening of the arteries, which can contribute to heart attack and stroke. In the present study, researchers investigated whether physical fitness earlier in life can predict how elastic the blood vessels are in older age.

    The study is based on data from the Swedish longitudinal study SPAF‑1958, led by Maria Westerståhl, senior lecturer at the Department of Laboratory Medicine, where 425 individuals were followed across adulthood. Participants were examined at ages 34, 52, and 63. The researchers assessed fitness using a cycle ergometer test, analysed blood samples to study lipids, and measured arterial stiffness at age 63 using a non-invasive method.

    Fitness more important than blood lipids

    The results show that individuals with higher fitness at ages 34 and 52 had more elastic arteries at age 63. The association remained even after accounting for factors such as blood pressure, body weight, smoking, and cholesterol levels. However, neither cholesterol nor more advanced measures of so-called “good” HDL cholesterol could predict arterial stiffness.

    “Our findings show that good physical fitness early in life is linked to vascular health later in life, independently of traditional risk factors,” says Andrea Tryfonos, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet.

    According to the researchers, the results suggest that regular physical activity may have long-term effects on cardiovascular health that are not captured by blood lipids and other common risk markers alone.

    “This highlights the importance of maintaining good fitness from early adulthood to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease,” says Andrea Tryfonos.

    Next step

    The researchers are now planning a follow-up of the participants at age 68 to investigate how changes in fitness over time affect vascular health later in life.

    The study was conducted in collaboration with the division of clinical physiology and the division of clinical chemistry at the department of laboratory medicine, as well as Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge. Information on funding and potential conflicts of interest is not available in the provided material.

    Source: Karolinska Institutet

    Categories : Cardiovascular Disease ExerciseTags :

    Swimming Beats Running for Strengthening the Heart, Study Finds

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    Photo by Kampus Production

    By Maria Fernanda Ziegler  |  Agência FAPESP – A study conducted on an animal model by researchers at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) in Brazil demonstrated that swimming is more effective than running in promoting healthy heart growth and improving the strength with which the heart muscle (myocardium) contracts.

    “Swimming and running are two excellent ways to improve cardiorespiratory health and protect the heart muscle, but we wanted to know if one could be even more beneficial than the other. We found that, although both increase respiratory capacity, swimming goes a step further by combining functional and molecular adaptations that make the heart stronger and more efficient,” says Andrey Jorge Serra, a professor at UNIFESP and coordinator of the study supported by FAPESP. 

    The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, demonstrates that swimming promotes greater modulation of microRNAs that control various heart adaptations, such as cardiac cell growth, the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis), protection against cell death, and the regulation of contractility and responses to oxidative stress, compared to running training.

    MicroRNAs are molecules that regulate the expression of messenger RNAs, which are responsible for protein synthesis.

    “Although several studies had already examined the expression of microRNAs regulated by aerobic training in general, little was known about expression patterns when swimming and running were compared in the same experimental setting. Therefore, this study reveals that there’s a distinction in cardiovascular effects between these two modalities,” says Serra.

    In the study, the mice underwent an eight-week training protocol consisting of daily 60-minute sessions five days a week. The rats were divided into three groups: one that did not train, one that only ran, and one that only swam. Since running and swimming are very different forms of exercise, the comparison between the training regimens was not based on the speed the animals reached but rather on the relative intensity of the effort, as measured by maximum oxygen consumption (VO₂ max) – an indicator that assesses the body’s ability to capture, transport, and utilize oxygen during physical activity.

    According to the results, running and swimming improved physical fitness similarly: between the first and last training sessions, VO₂ max increased by more than 5%. However, only swimming promoted significant structural changes in the heart, such as increases in cardiac and left ventricular mass. Running did not show relevant differences compared to the sedentary animals.

    “People’s choice of sport depends largely on personal preference, aptitude, and enjoyment. But our results show that swimming may have a special impact in situations involving myocardial recovery, cardiac rehabilitation, and above all, scientific research. This is also relevant because studies on aerobic exercise often use running and swimming interchangeably, and we now know that the effects aren’t the same,” Serra explains.

    Before and after the training period, the researchers administered a series of tests to evaluate various aspects of cardiac health, including cardiorespiratory capacity, fitness, and the structure and function of the heart and myocardium.

    The study also analyzed the gene expression and protein pathways involved in physiological cardiac hypertrophy and the mechanisms involved in identifying regulatory microRNAs.

    “Although we don’t yet know why this change occurs at the molecular level, of the microRNA, we were able to delve deeply into and investigate the molecular pathways that control physiological hypertrophy,” the researcher adds.

    The article “Swimming is superior to running in inducing physiological cardiac hypertrophy and enhancing myocardial performance” can be read at nature.com/articles/s41598-026-36818-2.

    Source: FAPESP