Regular walking is widely recognized as a crucial component of overall health and well-being. However, previous research has mainly focused on middle-to-high-income White populations. A recent analysis using data from the Southern Community Cohort Study has now confirmed the benefits of regular walking, especially at a faster pace, within a predominantly low-income and Black group.

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, highlights the importance of promoting walking, particularly at a brisk pace, as an effective form of physical activity for improving health. Lead investigator Wei Zheng notes that while the health benefits of daily walking are well-established, limited research has investigated effects of factors such as walking pace on mortality, particularly in low-income and Black/African-American populations.

The analysis found that fast walking as little as 15 minutes a day was associated with a nearly 20% reduction in total mortality. This benefit remained strong even after accounting for other lifestyle factors and was consistent across various sensitivity analyses. The protective effect of fast walking extended to all causes of death but was most pronounced for cardiovascular diseases.

Importantly, the benefits of fast walking were independent of overall leisure-time physical activity levels (LTPA). Even for those who are already engaged in slow walking or some LTPA, adding more fast walking further reduced mortality. The findings suggest that public health campaigns and community-based programs can emphasize the importance and availability of fast walking to improve health outcomes.

Lead author Lili Liu concludes, “Public health campaigns and community-based programs can emphasize the importance and availability of fast walking to improve health outcomes, providing resources and support to facilitate increased fast walking within all communities.” Individuals should strive to incorporate more intense physical activity into their routines, such as brisk walking or other forms of aerobic exercise.

The study, led by Professor Melody Ding from the University of Sydney, has made a groundbreaking discovery that walking 7000 steps a day can offer similar health benefits as walking 10,000 steps. This finding is based on an analysis of data from 57 studies conducted in over ten countries between 2014 and 2025.

The researchers examined the impact of different daily step counts on various health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease and cancer. They found that walking at least 7000 steps a day can significantly improve eight major health outcomes, such as reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, and depressive symptoms.

Professor Melody Ding emphasized that aiming for 7000 steps is a realistic goal for people who struggle to meet traditional exercise guidelines. “Even small increases in step counts, like going from 2000 to 4000 steps a day, are associated with significant health gains,” she said.

The researchers compared the health outcomes of people walking at different step increments, starting at 2000 steps per day. They found that:

* When compared to 2000 steps a day, walking 7000 steps a day was associated with a 47% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.
* For those who cannot yet achieve 7000 steps a day, even small increases in step counts can lead to significant health improvements.

Experts are calling for future studies to explore how step goals should vary based on age, health status, and region. They also suggest including diverse populations and longer-term data to strengthen the evidence. Professor Ding emphasizes that this kind of detail is rare and will be useful for health practitioners when tailoring advice for patients.

Overall, the study suggests that walking 7000 steps a day can be a more achievable and beneficial goal than previously thought, and even small increases in daily movement can lead to meaningful health improvements.

The World Health Organization predicts that over half of the global population will develop overweight or obesity by 2035. Despite treatment strategies like lifestyle changes, surgery, and medications, these methods are not universally available or effective. An international team of researchers has made a groundbreaking discovery – a genetic test that can predict adulthood obesity in early childhood.

By leveraging genetic data from over five million people, the researchers created a polygenic risk score (PGS) that identifies children at higher genetic risk of developing obesity. This finding could lead to targeted preventative strategies, such as lifestyle interventions, at a younger age.

“What makes this score so powerful is its ability to predict, before the age of five, whether a child is likely to develop obesity in adulthood,” says Assistant Professor Roelof Smit from the NNF Center for Basic Metabolic Research (CBMR) at the University of Copenhagen and lead author of the research published in Nature Medicine.

The study draws on data from the Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits (GIANT) Consortium, an international collaboration of human genetics researchers. The research involved a partnership with 23andMe, inc., and contributions from over 600 scientists from 500 institutions globally.

Twice as effective at predicting obesity as the next best test, the new PGS combines the effects of thousands of genetic variants that increase our risk of obesity. These variants act in the brain and influence our appetite, making them a crucial factor in the development of adulthood obesity.

“This new polygenic score is a dramatic improvement in predictive power and a leap forward in the genetic prediction of obesity risk,” says Professor Ruth Loos from CBMR at the University of Copenhagen.

While genetics is not destiny, the researchers also investigated the relationship between a person’s genetic risk of obesity and the impact of lifestyle weight loss interventions. They found that people with a higher genetic risk of obesity were more responsive to interventions but also regained weight more quickly when the interventions ended.

However, the new PGS has its limitations – it was far better at predicting obesity in people with European-like ancestry than in people with African ancestry. Further research is needed to address these disparities and make this groundbreaking test universally useful.