Physical exercise is the most effective preventive medicine against ailments like diabetes and is an effective remedy for problems like high blood pressure and high cholesterol, experts taking part in a forum in Mexico City said.

What the pharmaceutical industry does “is try to find remedies that imitate many of the effects of physical exercise,” Dr. Sandra Mahecha said in an interview with Efe.
“If they’re trying to imitate those effects, it’s because we could really quit taking many of their medicines,” she said.

The Colombian physician was one of the speakers at the International Forum “Ponte al 100 sobre Balance Energetico” organized by the National Physical Culture and Sports Commission, or Conade, and the Mexican Sports Medicine Federation.

In her talk, Mahecha spoke about physical activity and aging. She then explained to Efe in a statement that these days “we see old age as something different from what it really is, and we don’t teach people how to age correctly” nor to prevent many problems that are avoidable with physical exercise.

The president of Conade, Jesus Mena, presented the results of the pilot program for “Ponte al 100” through which close to 1 million Mexicans have been examined and have received personalized diet-and-exercise recommendations.

Three months later, some 125,000 of them were examined again and more than half had lost weight. This pilot plan, part of a national strategy for the prevention of obesity and diabetes that will go national in September, includes check-up points at 140,000 elementary and high schools, 15,000 sports centers and 100 of Mexico’s largest employers.