Marathons may be hazardous to your health

I just found this article.  The study was presented in Atlanta just yesterday.  Needless to say, I don’t believe it. J

Marathons may be hazardous to your health

March 15, 11:16 AM 

Boulder Running Examiner Beth Risdon

Running has long been associated with health benefits such as weight management, decreased blood pressure and cholesterol and boosting the immune system. Intuition tells us that if we get such results from running 5-10 miles per week, we would be in really good shape if we ran marathons. Right?  Wrong, according to Despina Kardara, a researcher from the Athens Medical School and Hippokration Hospital in Athens, Greece.

Kardara reported today that marathon runners had increased blood pressure and stiffness in the aorta, the major artery to the heart. His study was presented  on March 15, 2010, at an American College of Cardiology meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Kardara likened running marathons to a sports car engine stating that, "If you do not use it, it will decay, but if you run it too fast for too long, you might burn it out."

The study of marathoners was conducted on 49 people (only 7 of them women). The scientists evaluated blood pressure levels and flexibility of the arteries. Also studied were 46 people of similar ages, heights and cardiovascular risk factors who were not endurance athletes. The scientists found that the runners had higher blood pressure, reduced heart rates and more stiffness in the arteries. Kardara stated that, "This is important because stiff arteries lead to high blood pressure and can impair the heart, keeping it from performing properly."

The results of this study conflict with those of a National Runners' Health Study completed in 2009. The study was done to determine how much running was beneificial, and if running further and faster was advantageous.  62,000 men and 45,000 women were found to have decreases in high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. These decreases directly correlated to the number of marathons each individual ran per year. They found that men who ran two or more marathons per year were 41 percent less likely to suffer from high blood pressure, 32 percent less likely to have high cholesterol, and 87 percent less likely to have diabetes than non-marathoners. Thus, more marathons run, more health benefits achieved.

The findings were published in the March 2009 issue of Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise.

The results of the Kardara study are particulary relevant as the numbers of marathoners in the United States has grown from just 25,000 in 1976 to 400,000 in 2007.

Although reserach has produced varying results, one conclusion is clear. Always consult with your physician before and during any excercise program, rigorous or otherwise.

For more information on the Kardara study, visit  bloomberg.com. To read about the health benefits of running, go to running.about.com or therunnersguide.com.