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  • Original Article
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Self-selection contributes significantly to the lower adiposity of faster, longer-distanced, male and female walkers

Abstract

Objective:

Cross-sectional studies show that active individuals are leaner than their sedentary counterparts. The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent that this is due to self-selection bias, specifically to initially leaner men and women choosing to exercise longer and more intensely.

Methods:

Walking quantity (weekly distance) and intensity (speed) were compared to current body mass index (BMI) (BMIcurrent) and BMI at the start of walking (BMIstarting) in 20 353 women and 5174 men who on average had walked regularly for exercise for 7.2 and 10.6 years, respectively.

Results:

The relationships of both BMIcurrent and BMIstarting to both distance and intensity were nonlinear (convex). On average, BMIstarting explained >70% of the association between BMIcurrent and intensity, and 40 and 17% of the associations between BMIcurrent and distance in women and men, respectively. Although the declines in BMIcurrent with distance and intensity were greater among fatter individuals than leaner individuals, the portions attributable to BMIstarting remained relatively constant regardless of fatness. Thus, self-selection bias accounted for most of the decline in BMI with walking intensity and smaller, albeit significant, proportions of the decline with distance.

Conclusion:

Although walking intensity and walking distance are both strongly associated with greater leanness, intensity is less likely to be causally related to leanness than is distance, and the latter should be encouraged for reversing or preventing weight gain.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by Grants HL-072110, HL-45652 and DK-066738 from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and was conducted at the Life Sciences Division of the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US Department of Energy under contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098 to the University of California).

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Correspondence to P T Williams.

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Williams, P. Self-selection contributes significantly to the lower adiposity of faster, longer-distanced, male and female walkers. Int J Obes 31, 652–662 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803457

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