Scientists say ‘fitness age’ is a powerful indicator to determine longevity

Bhavyajyoti Chilukoti Oct 18, 2014 at 03:37 pm

According to a recent study on fitness and lifespan, an individuals’s fitness age, mainly determined by a measure of cardiovascular endurance, lifespan is a powerful predictor of longevity than chronological age. The fact that is unknown by many is that fitness age can decrease, unlike actual age. The concept was developed by a group of researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, as they studied about fitness and its relation to health over years.Fitness age is primarily determined by VO2max that is defined as the body’s capacity to inhale and utilise the atmospheric oxygen, which in turn indicates cardiovascular endurance. In case your VO2max is less for your age group, it indicates that your actural age is younger than your fitness age. But if you actually look at this carefully, you know that the clock for a younger fitness age can be turned back. It means that depending upon a person’s VO2max, a 50-year-old person might have a fitness age in the age group 30 – 75.It has been decided several years age by the Norwegian scientists to develop a simple method for determining VO2max. For this, they recruited more than 5,000 Norwegians between 20 – 90. They measured their aerobic activity on treadmill and also checked various parameters like heart rate, exercise habits and waist circumference. The scientists then found that these parameters when plugged into an algorithm provides an approximate value of that particular individual’s VO2max.

A recent study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise in June found that scientists conducted research on 55,000 Norwegian adults in early 1980s with the help of an extensive health questionnaire and determined the relation between VO2max and fitness age. They also kept a check on the death records of the individual. It was later revealed that people with VO2max equal to or more than 82% for their age group had 82% higher risk of premature death than those with fitness age falling under younger category. Based on the research findings, it is suggested that fitness age can predict an individual’s risk of early death in a better way as compared to other key factors like high blood pressure, smoking, high cholesterol or obesity.