If you have ever smoked or heavily drank in your life, running 100 marathons will not make up for those bad habits and you can still be at risk for serious heart problems, doctors warn.
A new study examined 50 men who have run 3,510 marathons combined to determine that years of endurance training did not harm the runners’ hearts, but also didn’t benefit them in ways that most people would expect.
There has been a debate between whether strenuous exercise on the heart would decrease the risk of disease or have adverse affects, especially after famous runners have died of heart attacks in the past.
But this study finds that extreme running hardly affects heart health compared to bad eating, drinking and smoking habits. And as one study doctor told the New York Times: ‘You just can’t outrun your past.’
Running marathons will not increase or decrease your risk for heart disease, a new study found
Researchers from the University of Minnesota and Stanford University conducted the study to find if running impacted the risk of developing heart disease, the leading killer in the US.
They honed in on a group of runners who participated in at least 25 consecutive Twin Cities marathons in Minneapolis.
Famed runner James F Fixx and author of The Complete Book of Running died of a heart attack aged 52 instilling fear that running could induce heart disease
Most of the men ran about 30 miles per week and began competing in high school, while others started training at an older age.
Researchers examined the runners’ training routines as well as general health history and habits.
The runners underwent scans on their hearts to look for atherosclerosis, the build-up of fats, cholesterol and plaque in the artery walls which can lead to various other conditions including heart disease.
Results published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found that 16 of the runners had no plaque in their arteries at all.
The rest had some deposits, with 12 displaying slight amounts, another 12 moderate levels, and 10 having large deposits of plaques.
However, researchers found little relationships between how much they had run and how much plaque was in their arteries.
This means that those who ran the most, did not have more or less arterial plaque than those who ran fewer races.
The results indicated that extreme running alone did not have an impact on heart health.
But a history of heavy smoking and high cholesterol in the runners was linked to higher levels of plaque.
Lead study author and professor at the University of Minnesota, Dr William O Roberts, said that though running may have helped to keep some runners’ arteries clear, exercise alone did not prevent those with poor habits, especially smoking, against developing heart disease.
But the results can assuage some runners who worry about the strain that running can have on the body.
Especially after the death of famed runner James F. Fixx, who authored the book The Complete Book of Running and died of a heart attack when he was just 52.
And though his death instilled fear of strenuous activity, it is likely that it was due to other factors, such as his medical history that included his father who died of a heart attack at 43.
Dr Roberts suggests seeing a physician if you have a history of heart disease or if you’ve made poor lifestyle choices regarding smoking, drinking or diet.