Lack of Exercise and Unhealthy Diet Increase the Rate of Aging

Lack of exercise and eating unhealthy diet may contribute to the aging process of senescent cells that leads to a faster development of disease and conditions usually seen in older age.

Lack of exercise and eating unhealthy diet can cause obesity that increases the risk of type-2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and certain types of cancer. It affects 78.6 million or 34.9 percent of adults in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as reported by Medical News Today.

Dr. Nathan LeBrasseur, PhD, of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging at the Mayo Clinic and his team did an experiment in the efforts to find whether exercise could alleviate the accumulation of metabolic dysfunction and premature senescent cells caused by a fast-food diet.

They experimented on mice, which they divided into two groups. The first group was given "normal, healthy diet," while the second group was given "fast-food diet," that consists of foods high in saturated fat, cholesterol and sugar sweetened beverages.

The fast-food diet group experienced unhealthy compositions and changes in body weight. Their fat mass almost tripled in just four months. Most of the fat developed in the midsection of the body near internal organs which causes a number of obesity-related problems.

However, when this group of mice started to exercise, their health started to improve. Half of the mice from both groups had access on an exercise wheel.

The experiment showed that the mice that had been exposed to unhealthy diet but did regular exercise showed reduction in weight gain and fats mass accumulation. They are also protected from the development of senescent cells.

"It doesn't mean that we need to be marathon runners but we need to find ways to increase our habitual activity levels to stay healthy and prevent processes that drive ageing and ageing-related diseases," LeBrasseur noted.