You can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet, study shows

I eat my vegetables, but I am guilty of thinking you can have your cake and eat it too, so long as you exercise enough.

So too, did Melody Ding, an associate professor from the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney. That was until she conducted her latest study.

We can’t ‘outrun’ the effects of a bad diet, say the authors of a large new study. Credit:Getty

“I am very active, and I eat generally healthy, but sometimes I do feel that I could ‘relax’ a bit because of how active I am,” says the epidemiologist and behavioural scientist. “I think many around me share the same feelings.”

When she looked at the research, however, she could only find several short-term studies. These suggested it was possible to mitigate some effects of a poor diet through exercise, with high-intensity exercise protecting against inflammation, insulin resistance and increased cardiovascular disease risk.