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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

How Much Do I Have to Exercise?

Would you eat less if you knew how long you would have to exercise to burn off the calories from that burger with cheese and mayo at the local fast-food restaurant? A study conducted by a professor at Texas Christian University suggests that the answer is "yes."

Dr. Meena Shah conducted the study with 300 men and women between the ages of 18 and 30.  The participants were given one of three menus and asked to decide which items they would choose to eat. One menu only contained the food items, the second, the number of calories in the food and the third, the amount of moderate exercise needed to burn off the calories consumed. All three menus contained the same food items.

Those participants who were given the exercise information were the only ones to significantly reduce the number of calories ordered and consumed.  Those participants who  were given menus with only the calories listed ordered and consumed about the same amount of food as those who did not know either the caloric count or the amount of exercise required to burn off those calories.

The full study was presented by Dr. Shah at the 2013 meeting of Experimental Biology.

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