Physically fit people suffered from less periodontitis in a study published in the Journal of Periodontology (May 17, 2010).
Previous studies have found that obese people develop periodontitis more often, and that people who exercise develop it less often. Now researchers at the Fukuoka Health Promotion Foundation have looked deeper into the issue by using maximal oxygen consumption during exercise as a measurement of actual fitness.
The researchers divided 1,160 subjects into five groups depending on how much oxygen they consumed. High oxygen consumption is considered an indication of fitness. As expected, those who consumed the most oxygen were the least likely to have periodontitis.
The researchers also measured the subjects' body mass index (BMI) as an indication of obesity. Those with the lowest BMIs were also at lower risk of periodontitis.
And those who combined the lowest BMIs with the highest oxygen consumption had the lowest risk of periodontitis of all (odds ratio = 0.17, 95% confidence: 0.05 to 0.55).
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