Mislabelling Physical Activity a "Vaccine Against Obesity" Carries Risk

"By having regular physical activity including sports and non-sport activity, movement, and not to be sedentary, it's the best vaccine against obesity"

- Jean-Michel Borys, Director EPODE European Network, at Coca-Cola funded "Together We Move" summit.

And yet, study after study after study demonstrate that even heroic amounts of exercise seem to at best lead people to gain weight slightly more slowly, and certainly not to lose.

In kids a 10 fold difference in objectively measured daily activity did not protect again obesity, nor did the vast majority of all RCTs involving school PE in three separate meta-analyses (1, 2, 3).

In adults there was no amount of exercise that prevented weight gain in nurses in the Nurses Health Study over a 13 year period, nor was there an amount of exercise able to prevent gain in this 20 year CARDIA study, nor in this 33 year long Norwegian study.

I asked Dr. Borys two weeks ago on Twitter if he could provide me with some evidence that would support his very strong, and very Coca-Cola friendly, statement.

I have yet to hear back.

Exercise is the world's best drug, it's just not a weight loss drug, and saying that it is does a disservice to both exercise and weight loss.