JENA, Germany People who do not take regular exercise are twice as likely than the fit and active to suffer from hardening of the arteries in the heart, according to sports medics at the Jena University in Germany.
A team led by Professor Holger Gabriel examined why sportsmen's arteries do not become as hardened as those in people who do not train.
They found that arteriosclerosis is caused by a disturbance to the artery walls as the result, for example, of long-term smoking. The process is difficult to reverse.
A healthy blood vessel can protect itself from damaging influences, but if the inner skin of a vessel is damaged, it attracts the body's own immune cells which then attach themselves like limpets.
These cells then grow and transform into consuming cells which store cholesterol, that in turn transforms into a deposit on the cell walls.
Then other cells are attracted and the cycle of arteriosclerosis continues, said Professor Gabriel.
The process can be reversed by regular exercise which it makes it harder for the cells to take hold. Just 30-45 minutes endurance exercise per day such as jogging, cycling or swimming, would suffice, the German medics said.
(DPA)