The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, reveals that even 30 minutes of moderate exercise, three times a week, can significantly lower blood pressure and increase fitness levels.

Over 100 healthy but sedentary civil servants between the ages of 40 and 60 took part in the study, which involved adopting an exercise programme for 12 weeks, with no changes in diet.

The group was divided into three, with one group assigned 30 minutes of brisk walking for five days a week, another group 30 minutes of brisk walking for three days a week and the remainder were not asked to change their current lifestyle.

Pedometers were used to help participants monitor their walking and every participant recorded how long they walked for.

Dr Mark Tully, from the Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Research Institute at UU said: We recorded blood pressure, blood cholesterol, weight, hip and waist girth, and overall fitness at the start and finish of the 12-week study.

Our findings showed that systolic blood pressure and waist and hip girth fell significantly in both groups of walkers. Overall fitness also increased.

Falls of a few millimetres in blood pressure and shrinkage of a few centimetres in hip and waist circumference are enough to make a difference to an individual ™s risk of dying from a cardiovascular disease.

Furthermore, the findings show that moderate intensity physical exercise below the recommended levels (30 minutes of moderately strenuous exercise on at least five days of the week), still makes a difference to health.

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Researchers have known for some time that metabolic status and food preferences can vary from person to person and even between different cultures. The recent growth of the new field of proteome research, which focuses on characterizing the structure and function of the complete set of proteins produced by our genes, has allowed scientists to gain a deeper understanding of the metabolic changes that occur when foods are digested, Kochhar says.

There's a lot of information in metabolism that can be used to improve health and this information is just now being explored and tapped, the researcher says.

In the future, a test for determining one's metabolic type could be performed as part of a blood or urine test during a regular visit to the doctor, Kochhar predicts. But a reliable test to measure one's metabolic type may be five years away, as more research is still needed in this area, he notes.

Women were not included in the current study in order to avoid any metabolic variations linked to the menstrual cycle, which has been shown in studies by others to influence metabolic differences, Kochhar says. But the researchers plan to include women in future clinical trials on metabolic responses to chocolate to determine if there is a gender-specific response to the treat.

In addition to providing a better understanding of individual metabolic types, the current study could also lead to the discovery of additional biomarkers that can identify new health benefits linked to chocolate and other foods, says Kochhar, whose research was funded by Nestl?©.

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