Originally published August 9 2005
Study shows how to determine fitness in women
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
MET levels found on most electronic exercise equipment is a good way for women to judge how fit they are for their age, according to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Danielle Tripp and Megan Weatherly of Kansas City, both 22, are avid exercise buddies.
Displayed on most exercise bikes, elliptical trainers and other exercise machines, it's a rough measure of oxygen consumption and thus the metabolism rate for any given activity.
Based on new research published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, women can now use their own chart of MET levels to determine exactly how fit they are, or ought to be, for their particular age.
The chart, or so-called nomogram, was put together by cardiologist Martha Gulati and a team of researchers at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center.
Gulati, now at Northwestern University, said cardiologists for years have used MET levels as part of cardiac treadmill tests.
All MET standards were based on research on men, thus setting the fitness levels for women artificially high and more difficult to meet.
The study is based on 5,721 women between the ages of 35 and 93 whose health ranged from good to risky.
Now that this new chart is available, Gulati said she hopes that women will use it not only to monitor their fitness but also to insist on MET measurements as part of annual physical exams.
Gerald Fletcher, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., and a spokesman for the American Heart Association, said the guidelines for women will help physicians encourage patients with poor fitness levels to get more exercise to reach their expected MET level.
"Overall, I think this is a very good guideline to be done carefully in people who are not at high risk," he said.
One can think of METs as the amount of effort it takes a person to perform an activity.
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