New Benefits of Exercise

I am pretty sure that we can all agree that exercise is important.  Whether it be walking, running, biking, or whatever, exercise helps keep us in shape and healthy.   Recently, however, there have been new revelations about the true effects of exercise on the human body at the cellular level.  Essentially, a new hormone was discovered that was found to have enormous impacts on an individual's health.  Irisin, a byproduct of protein breakdown in muscle cells during and after exercise, was found to move beyond the confines of the cell and affect fat cells within the body.  What the hormone does is turn fat cells from white to brown.  If your wondering what the big deal is in color, your not alone.  I was wondering the same thing myself.   It turns out that white fat is metabolically inactive, essentially just taking up space within the human body and leading to a variety of health problems.  Brown fat, which is essentially baby fat as we know it, is metabolically active, uses oxygen, and requires energy from the body.  Before this study was completed, it was thought that adults did not have any brown fat cells within their body, that we basically lost it all as children.  So who really cares if fat cells are brown or white?  Well, it really does make a difference in your health.  The hormone does nothing to contribute to weight loss, but everything to do with making an individual healthy. 

Brown fat cells, essentially prevent a person from getting diabetes.  While exercise alone will not result in large weight loss, it can prevent this debilitating disease from taking hold of a person's body.  In the study, which included both mice and humans (surprising right), it was found that mice which had a larger amount of irisin in their system and consequently more brown fat cells, had a higher tolerance for glucose despite being on a high fat diet, and were overall much healthier than mice with almost no irisin in their system.  But why study both mice and humans?  Another discovery that was made throughout this study was that the hormone is exactly the same in both mice and humans, which in turn indicates that it plays a vital role in mammals, having survived thousands of years of evolution.  So it turns out that while exercise alone will not slim a person down, it will make them healthy.  Imagine how many fewer problems people would have if they simply went for a walk every day.  Even if they kept on eating the same exact foods and added exercise (which I do not personally endorse), they could have an enormous impact on their future health.  Maybe this new enlightenment will be the motivation that people need to start walking and getting more exercise.  Its not simply about weight loss, its about being healthy. 

As I wrote about earlier this week, we are embroiled in an obesity epidemic in the United States.  It is not just the United States that is suffering, but rather individuals around the world.  The United States just happens to have the highest percentage rate of adults who are overweight/obese out of all developed countries.  Most recently, 65% of all adults in the US are considered overweight, shocking in and of itself, but what is more startling is the percentage of obese adults in the US which amongst men and women is around 33%.  These are serious numbers that all in all contribute to over 300,000 deaths each year, most as a result from a health condition developed because of the excessive weight.  If more and more people started walking, even if they didn't lose all the extra weight, they could reduce the risk of getting diabetes and perhaps other weight related health problems.  It turns out that we all have it within ourselves to be healthy, all that is needed is a little exercise (and diet as well, but that is a whole other topic).  As adults, we need to set the example for our children so that they do not in turn become obese or overweight and develop health problems of their own.  Currently, obesity is on the rise in children as well and unless we do something now to curb the trend, it will only get worse.  The benefits of exercise are bountiful and new ones, as we found out today, are still being discovered.  Maybe one day, people will get the picture and get more exercise, one day.