Abundant daily non-sedentary activity is associated with reduced prevalence of metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance

Background: Non-exercise activity thermogenesis has recently drawn attention because of its potential to prevent weight gain. Aim: This study evaluated the relationships between the duration of daily non-sedentary activities and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance (IR) in the Japanese population. Material/subjects and methods: A total of 518 eligible subjects (380 men and 138 women) who attended the Tokushima Prefectural General Health Checkup Center and participated in the baseline survey of a cohort study conducted in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan were analyzed. Information about lifestyle characteristics including leisure-time exercise and daily non-exercise activities was obtained from a questionnaire. Logistic and multiple linear regression analyses were performed to evaluate the associations between the duration of daily non-exercise non-sedentary activities (beyond sitting) and prevalence of metabolic syndrome (and its components) and IR. Results: Subjects with longer duration of daily non-sedentary activities had significantly lower adjusted odds ratios for metabolic syndrome (p for trend =0.024), abdominal obesity (p for trend =0.023), and low HDL-cholesterol levels (p for trend =0.002), after adjustment for sex, age, and other probable covariates including leisure-time exercise. Longer duration of daily non-sedentary activities was further associated with lower homeostasis model of assessment-IR (HOMA-IR) values (p for trend =0.009). Conclusions: Our results suggest that abundant daily non-sedentary activity might be associated with a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome, especially for the components of central obesity and low HDL-cholesterol levels, and with a lower prevalence of IR, independent of leisure-time exercise.