"Walk often and walk far." That's the message for heart patients from researchers at the University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington. According to a study published today in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation, overweight patients with coronary heart disease who walked longer at a slower pace improved heart health much more effectively than patients who walked a shorter distance at a brisk pace.

In a first-of-its-kind study, 74 overweight cardiac rehabilitation patients were divided into two groups: One group walked for 45 to 60 minutes a day at a moderate pace for five to six days a week (burning 3,000 to 3,500 calories weekly), and the other group walked, biked, or rowed for 25 to 40 minutes at a brisker pace three times a week (burning 700 to 800 calories weekly). At the end of five months, the patients in the high-calorie burning group lost more weight (18 vs. 8 pounds), body fat, (13 vs. 6 pounds) and inches from their waistlines (2.7 vs. 2 inches). They also had significantly greater improvements in total cholesterol, blood pressure, insulin sensitivity, and other heart risk factors. Researchers noted that while the standard rehabilitation has benefit, the high-calorie-burning exercise increased the benefit, which is crucial with the increasing prevalence of obesity. The authors of the study note that today more than 80 percent of patients entering cardiac rehabilitation programs are overweight.