Food and exercise interplay under the microscope
by
Michèle Nardelli
So too much butter is bad for your cholesterol and is it better for your heart to run for an hour each day or to spend 20 minutes pumping iron at the gym?
The advice comes thick and fast over the airwaves but how much of it is substantiated and what do we really know for sure about the interplay between nutrition and exercise?
A new research facility based at UniSA's City East campus is devoted to examining food and exercise, focussing on what aspects of diet and lifestyle will help to sustain a healthy heart, minimise inflammatory diseases and reduce the onset of diabetes. Launched on May 12, the Nutritional Physiology Research Group is a collaboration between UniSA and Adelaide University.
Group leader Professor Peter Howe says he hopes the research will help to empower people to make the right decisions about diet and lifestyle.
“I think there is a lot of conflicting information bandied about and people sometimes feel confused about managing their own health,” Prof Howe says.
“We are working closely with other research organisations and the food industry to engage in the kind of research that will build consumer confidence in making healthy decisions about diet and exercise.”
“The uniqueness of the facility is that we will be researching the combined effects of nutritional and exercise interventions on cardiovascular and metabolic health parameters.”
The research facility has been established with support from the Australian Research Council and already the team is collaborating with CSIRO Health Sciences and Nutrition, the Universities of Western Australia and Wollongong, RMIT and the Institute for Food, Nutrition and Human Health at New Zealand's Massey University.
Returning to Adelaide just two years ago from his role as scientific
director of the Smart Food Centre at the University of Wollongong, Howe says
he has been delighted with the growing interest in human nutrition research
at the University of Adelaide and UniSA. “There are fruitful collaborations
developing across institutions and disciplines which will underpin a strong
research base in the State contributing to better health for the whole
community,” he says.