Exercise doesn’t help us lose weight

Coca-cola told the world that weight loss is all to do with exercise (and nothing to do with its sugary drinks) – but they’re wrong. Exercise is good for us, but it won’t help us lose weight, a new study has discovered. Although most of us think we’re sure to lose weight if we go to the gym or do strenuous physical activity, no evidence has ever supported that belief. Instead, weight loss is all to do with the amount – and type – of food we eat, say researchers from the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. The researchers – Richard Cooper and Amy Luke – have studied weight loss for years and fully expected to find an association between that and physical activity when they started their review of the literature. But they could find no research showing that to be the case; instead, weight loss is entirely to do with the amount and sort of food we eat. (Int J Epidermiol, 2013; 42: 1831-6)