Australian researchers have found that exercising as a child could potentially counteract the damage of a high-fat diet later in life. Rats were given either a high-fat diet and a wheel for extra exercise, a high-fat diet but no wheel, or a regular diet and no wheel. High-fat diets in childhood are known to “turn up,” or increase, the activity of other genes that cause inflammation -- the body’s natural self-protective response to acute infection or injury. Ongoing inflammation as a result of high-fat diets can damage cells and tissues, increasing the risk of obesity, heart disease, cancer among other conditions. However, the team found that in the rats given a high-fat diet and an exercise wheel, the early extra physical activity caused inflammation-linked genes to be turned down, not turned up.

Source: Hindustan Times July 12, 2017 05:37 UTC