Exercise as preventive medicine

A structured exercise program may be as good or better than frequently prescribed drugs for some common cardiovascular ailments,a large meta-analysis has found. Researchers evaluated 57 randomised trials testing the effect on mortality of exercise and drugs in four prevention regimens: the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease,rehabilitation from stroke,treatment of heart failure,and prevention of Type 2 diabetes. The review,published online in BMJ,involved more than 14,000 patients. The studies used a variety of drugs for example,statins for the prevention of coronary heart disease,blood thinners for stroke,diuretics for heart failure,and biguanides like Glucophage and Metaglip for impending diabetes. They found no difference in mortality between exercise and drug interventions in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease or Type 2 diabetes.