Distance Runners as Models of Optimal Health

In brief: Distance runners are suggested as a new model for optimal health standards because normal values are now derived from the American public, which is notorious for its obesity, low level of physical fitness, bad eating habits, use of cigarettes and drugs, and high incidence of cardiovascular and other degenerative diseases. As a group, the 50 distance runners studied showed lower than normal body weight, body fat, resting heart rate, serum cholesterol and triglycerides; higher HDL cholesterol; and lower cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratios. However, the runners who ate the average American diet sometimes had normal values.