It's never too late to take up exercise to shed some unwanted weight and live longer, according to a new study.
Middle-aged people who start exercising had the same risk of death as those who have exercised throughout their lives from their teens.
And although they are late starters to the gym, they got the same health benefits as life-long gym bunnies.
Those aged 40 to 61 who started doing the recommended weekly amount of activities had a 16 to 43 percent reduced risk of death, according to the findings published in JAMA Network Open.
But those who were keen exercisers in early adulthood but gave up lost all the health benefits they had gained.
Even people who don't start working out until they are over 60 may see as much as a 43 percent reduction in their risk of an early death, a new study suggests
Dr Pedro Saint-Maurice, of the National Cancer Institute said: 'National guidelines for aerobic physical activity recommend adults should participate in at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous intensity activity or an equivalent combination of both.
'Levels of physical activity equivalent to meeting this guideline have been associated with substantial health benefits, including reductions in all-cause, cardiovascular disease–related, and cancer-related mortality.
'However, most of the evidence on the mortality benefits of physical activity comes from studies that measure leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) at only one point, usually during midlife, for example 40 to 60 years of age.
'To date, no study to our knowledge has taken a life course approach to examine how participation in physical activity throughout the different stages of adulthood may be associated with mortality risk.
'Little is known about how long-term participation in LTPA from adolescence to early adulthood and into middle age may affect mortality
'We hypothesized that participants who maintained the highest levels of activity in all age groups would have the lowest risk for mortality.'
So the prospective cohort study used data from the National Institutes of Health–AARP (formerly American Association of Retired Persons) Diet and Health Study established in 1995 to 1996.
Of more than 315,000 participants, just under three-fifths (58.2 percent) were men, and the participants were 50 to 71 years of age at enrollment.
It identified 10 trajectories of LTPA that were labelled based on the last end point for LTPA - 40 to 61 years of age - relative to the first LTPA end point - 15 to18 years of age.
The scientists classified trajectories into three
