Oct 2, 2023 – There's a greater reason to exercise here than simply shedding pounds.
Greater physical fitness and Maintenance Body weight reduced the chance of chronic disease Kidney disease in adults with obesity, in accordance with a study published on Thursday in Obesity. But lose Weight didn’t reduce this risk.
“We need to know more about the optimal strategies for reducing kidney disease risk in adults with obesity,” said study creator Meera Harhay, MD, medical director of clinical research at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Obesity is a well-known risk factor for kidney disease, a number one reason behind death within the United States. Hormonal changes related to extra body fat can increase body fluid volume, increase blood pressure, and promote insulin resistance. All of this forces your kidneys to work harder to filter your blood, causing damage and scarring.
“The kidneys can only compensate so much before permanent damage occurs,” said Harhay, an epidemiologist and kidney transplant expert.
In the study, Harhay and colleagues used data from the Multiethnic study of atherosclerosisa National Institutes of Health initiative that followed 6,814 middle-aged adults in six U.S. cities and tracked their weight and other health metrics over a 10-year period. From this pool, researchers focused on 1,208 adults who met the medical definition of obesity but didn’t have kidney disease or diabetes at the beginning of the study (which might result in kidney disease).
They found that for each 11 kilos of weight gain, the chance of kidney disease increased by 34%. But shedding pounds didn't reduce the chance. This suggests that stopping weight gain could also be more necessary than weight reduction.
Using participants' self-reported walking speed as a measure of their fitness, researchers found that individuals who walked slower than 2 miles per hour were 57% more more likely to develop kidney disease than those that walked faster.
Once scar tissue forms within the kidneys, this damage can’t be reversed. However, regular exercise could help the body survive this damage, the researchers suggested.
Harhay said the profit could possibly be related to the anti-inflammatory effects of normal exercise and/or higher heart and blood vessel health. “The mechanisms by which exercise and higher fitness protect the kidneys represent a major gap in our knowledge,” she said.
Beyond body weight
The study reflects a growing trend in obesity research that focuses not only on body weight but in addition examines other things that might explain the connection between obesity and disease.
“For about two decades, there has been extensive research into what is the stronger determinant of our longevity and risk of disease,” said Matthew Ahmadi, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher on the University of Sydney in Australia. “Is 'fitness' the main factor, 'fatness' or a balanced combination of both?”
In one Study 2022 According to the study co-authored by Ahmadi, individuals who walked faster had a 36% lower risk of death in the course of the study period (7 years) than those that walked slower. This was the results of a 2021 study by researchers on the University of Arizona Starting a regular exercise routine – no matter whether it resulted in weight reduction or not – counteracted the chance of early death related to a high body mass index.
It is significant to notice that strenuous exercise sessions can result in complications for patients with kidney damage. Kidney diseases are related to muscle wasting (sarcopenia) and lack of muscle strength (dynapenia). Therefore, strength training could be a very good option. Actually, current research suggests that resistance training may improve walking speed in patients with sarcopenia higher than programs that also use other varieties of training.
“A person with kidney disease should consult with their doctor about their exercise goals,” said Harhay, who wants to review how individuals with obesity and kidney disease can drop some pounds while maintaining muscle mass.