Exercise is a necessary part of living well, Hippocrates once said.
Some 2,400 years later, USF Health researchers are continuing to shed new light on the interaction of diet and exercise, examining how exercise affects inflammation and immune system health in the heart and spleen. The question is vital for the public鈥檚 health: 40 percent of Americans are obese, and obesity rates have increased 26 percent since 2008.
In a peer-reviewed paper published in the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, the USF Health team describes how exercise stimulates certain immune components, especially macrophages, and structural changes in the heart and spleen of aging mice.
鈥淢any people over-focus on their diet, thinking good health starts and ends with diet, and they ignore exercise or physical activity, while another thinks that exercise can counteract the negative effect of poor diet,鈥� said Ganesh Halade, PhD, lead author of the paper and associate professor of cardiovascular sciences at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and a researcher in the USF Health Heart Institute. 鈥淏ut along with an optimal diet, we need exercise for optimal heart health.鈥�
The paper is titled "."
It describes in detail how chronic intake of an omega 6 fat enriched diet, mainly present in processed food products, spikes cardiac inflammation, and how exercise can lower what are called pro-inflammatory bioactive lipid mediators in the heart as well as the spleen. The findings stress 鈥渢he complex interplay of diet with exercise and highlight the intricate connection of diet, exercise, and .鈥欌赌�
Dr. Halada鈥檚 team notes the dangers of an obesogenic diet and chronic inflammation on immune health -- one that promotes the activation of immune system with surplus intake of omega 6 fat enriched diet. These play a role in chronic diseases such as cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, and many forms of cancer.
An obesogenic diet depletes spleen and heart host defense molecules, commonly called specialized pro-resolution mediators, and impairs immune fitness, especially macrophages, white blood cells that are critical in cardiac repair and overall health. An obesogenic diet promotes pro-inflammatory lipids, which are sourced from processed food products, and contributes to a deficiency of healthy omega 3-fatty acids essential to good health.
This is important considering the varying diets of Americans. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics say 60 percent of adults in the United States have a chronic disease, and 40 percent of adults have two or more chronic diseases, such as heart disease, hypertension, or Type 2 diabetes. These conditions are prime drivers of the nation's $4 trillion annual health care spending, according to the CDC. Eating a healthy diet and exercising, the team states, is a course of preventive action and makes a positive impact on the obesity epidemic as part of lifestyle medicine.
鈥淧hysical activity is emerging as a fundamental element of lifestyle medicine, owing to its advantageous effects on enhancing cardiovascular well-being and mitigating the susceptibility to a range of cancers, notably encompassing thirteen distinct types of cancer,鈥欌�� the team notes.
鈥淐onsistent moderate exercise and physical activity are essential for optimal cardiovascular health and are widely encouraged as part of lifestyle medicine for preventing and treating cardiac diseases.鈥欌赌�
The USF authors state that obesity is not a cosmetic problem 鈭� it has become a 鈥渃osmic medical challenge鈥欌�� that drives 鈥渕ultiple diseases and chronic inflammation.鈥欌赌�. A body mass index (BMI) over 25 is considered overweight, and over 30 is obese.
Along with Dr. Halade, the USF team includes Gunjan Upadhyay, Mathan Kumar Marimuthu, Xuan Wanling, and Vasundhara Kain.
For more about Dr. Halade鈥檚 research, watch .