Maintaining or improving fitness can help you live longer, whether you lose weight or not, a new study concludes.

The research included more than 14,000 middle-aged men. They were given treadmill tests to measure fitness at the start of the study and about 6 years later. Fitness was measured in metabolic equivalents (METs). In all, researchers kept track of the men for 11 years.

 

In that time, men who became more fit had a 40% lower death rate from heart disease and from all causes than those who became less fit. Just staying at the same fitness level reduced death rates by 30%. Every 1-MET increase in fitness was linked to a 19% decrease in death rates from heart disease and stroke. The risk of death from any cause was 15% lower for each increase in METs. But a reduction in body mass index, a measurement of weight linked to height, did not change death rates.

The journal Circulation published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it December 5 2011