10-26-10

Hilton Chair Steven Blair to discuss whether weight or activity is more important to health

AMES, Iowa -- Can a person be both fit and fat? They can, according to Steven Blair, a research scholar on exercise and its health benefits for more than four decades.

Blair, a professor in the departments of exercise science and epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health, is the 2010-11 Dean Helen LeBaron Hilton Chair in the College of Human Sciences at Iowa State University. In that capacity, he will present a free, public lecture, "Physical Activity or Body Weight: Which Is More Important for Your Health," on Thursday, Nov. 11, at 8 p.m., in the Memorial Union Great Hall.

"There is a worldwide epidemic of obesity, and obesity receives a lot of attention from clinical medicine, public health and the lay press," said Blair, a past recipient of the U.S. Surgeon General's Medallion (1996) and American Heart Association Population Science Award (2008). "We have found that individuals who are fat, but physically fit, do not have elevated mortality risk. Inactivity and low fitness are far more important health problems than obesity."

Blair has done extensive research examining the impact of diet, physical activity and other lifestyle factors on mortality. He is coauthor of the books "Fitness after 50," "Active Living Every Day" and "Physical Activity and Health." He was also the senior scientific editor for the first U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health, and has published nearly 500 articles and chapters on his research.

With more than 25,000 scholarly citations to his body of work, Blair is one of the world's most frequently referenced exercise scientists.

Prior to his appointment at the University of South Carolina, he was a researcher and then president and CEO of the Cooper Institute, a nonprofit research and education center recognized as a leader in exercise science.

In his role as the 2010-11 Hilton Chair, Blair will visit the Iowa State campus four times throughout the academic year. During his visits, he said he hopes to expand the knowledge and research related to physical activity and health.

"Being physically active is one of the best things you can do to maintain good health," Blair said. "Low fitness is as important a risk factor as smoking, and people who maintain activity and fitness are much less likely to lose function and independence as they age. I look forward to opportunities to collaborate with Iowa State investigators on this line of research."

The Dean Helen LeBaron Hilton Endowed Chair in Human Sciences Lecture is sponsored by the College of Human Sciences with support from the ISU Lectures Program, which is funded by the Government of the Student Body.

Established in 1995, the Hilton Chair was endowed by a gift of more than $1.3 million from the estate of Helen LeBaron Hilton, who served as dean of the College of Home Economics from 1952 to 1975. That college is now part of the College of Human Sciences.

For more information, visit http://www.hs.iastate.edu/hiltonchair.

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