Subscribe

Receive updates about our latest products in your inbox

Register For Our Next Webinar

Endocrine Disruptor Detox: Evidence-Based Approaches for Patient Health

About Us

For over 40 years, Biotics Research Corporation has revolutionized the nutritional supplement industry by utilizing “The Best of Science and Nature”. Combining nature’s principles with scientific ingenuity, our products magnify the nutritional

Search the Blog

  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

Is There an Optimal Number of Steps Per Day?

iStock-638338360A recently published meta-analysis has tried to quantify the dose-response relationship between the number of steps taken per day and both all-cause mortality and incident cardiovascular disease (CVD). Published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, this meta-analysis started quite broadly, initially with over 5,000 potential studies to include, but weaned it down to 12 studies (and over 111,000 individuals) that met their inclusion criteria.

The authors identified both minimal and optimal targets that were independent of gender and device location (i.e., a device worn on the hip vs. wrist), although additional benefits were observed when walking at a faster pace. On the low end, this study suggests walking a minimum of 2,517 or 2,735 steps per day, which was associated with an 8% reduction in all-cause mortality and 11% in CVD incidence, respectively. An optimal target was suggested to be 8,763 and 7,126 steps, which predict 60% and 51% reductions in all-cause mortality and CVD incidence, respectively.

This is not to say that additional benefits don’t occur at even higher levels of activity, only that the returns start to diminish. For example, at 16,000 steps per day (roughly double the optimal target) the reduction in all-cause mortality and CVD incidence only decreases by an additional 5-7%. It’s also important to note that benefits did occur (non-linearly) with increments of even 500 steps per day, providing incentives for people at even low levels of activity. An unrelated randomized controlled trial published in the Journal of Applied Physiology (with only 10 participants) offers possible mechanisms; 10,000 steps vs. 2,000 steps per day, for instance, reduced post-prandial lipemia at the evening meal of the same day, a risk factor for CVD.

Submit your comment

Related Post

Physical Activity & CVD Risk

A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology provides some mechanistic insight into the be...

Learn more

Light Exercise Protects Against Childhood Obesity

Results of a study with over 13 years of follow-up were recently published in Nature Communications, detailing many of t...

Learn more

Sleep, Exercise & Cognitive Function

The results of a 10-year longitudinal study were recently published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity, detailing the assoc...

Learn more