WALKING CAN BE SIGNIFICANT STEP TO LONGER LIFE.

Byline: Denise Mann Medical Tribune News Service

Thirty minutes a day of brisk walking can help everyone live longer - even smokers, according to a Dallas researcher speaking here at a press briefing sponsored by the American Medical Association.

A new eight-year study of 25,341 men and 7,080 women found that those who were moderately or highly fit were significantly less likely to die from heart disease and other conditions than their sedentary counterparts, reported Steven N. Blair, director of research at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas.

``Whether the subjects were unhealthy or healthy, smokers or not smokers, had elevated blood pressure or increased cholesterol ... all seemed to benefit from being moderately or highly fit compared with low-fit men and women,'' he said.

But this is not to say that it is OK to smoke, even if a person goes to the gym four times a week, Blair stressed.

``Quit smoking, but if you can't or won't, you would still be better off if you exercise regularly,'' he said.

Three brisk 10-minute walks a day on most days of the week are as effective as one 30-minute walk in achieving moderate fitness, he pointed out.

The new findings were announced as part of the AMA's campaign to promote better fitness and nutrition to coincide with the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

The results are in accordance with a recent report from the U.S. Surgeon General, which said that regular physical activity can offer substantial health benefits to the vast majority of Americans who are not physically active.

One in three American adults is overweight, and about 22 percent of adults engage in little or no physical activity during their leisure time, according to the AMA.

``Not only can physical fitness improve a person's quality of life, but it can be protective against heart disease, diabetes and some of the ravages of smoking,'' said Dr. Yank D. Coble Jr., a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Florida in Jacksonville, and a member of the AMA's Board of Trustees.

In the new study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, low-fit (as gauged by a treadmill test) men and women had roughly double the risk of early death as their more active peers. And smokers had approximately twice the risk of dying early as nonsmokers.

Men who were highly fit but had two or three other risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels or smoking, had a 15 percent lower risk of death as men who had none of these risk factors but were in poor physical shape, Blair reported.