Fewer gallstones arise in active women

Sedentary women are more likely to require gallbladder surgery than active women are.

Leitzmann, M.F., et al. 1999. Recreational physical activity and the risk of cholecystectomy in women. New England Journal of Medicine 341(Sept. 9):777.

Vega, K.J., and D.E. Johnston. 1999. Exercise and the gallbladder. New England Journal of Medicine 341(Sept. 9):836.

Leitzmann, M.F., et al. 1998. The relation of physical activity to risk for symptomatic gallstone disease in men. Annals of Internal Medicine 128(March 15):417.

Linos, A.D., et al. 1989. Dietary and other risk factors in the aetiology of cholelithiasis: A case control study. HPB Surgery 1:221.

Low-Beer, T.S. 1998. How the colon begets gallstones. Lancet 351(Feb. 28):612.

Misciagna, G., et al. 1999. Diet, physical activity and gallstones—a population-based, case-control study in southern Italy. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 69:120.

Ortega, R.M., et al. 1997. Differences in diet and food habits between patients with gallstones and controls. Journal of American College Nutrition 16:88.

Michael F. Leitzmann
Harvard School of Public Health
Department of Nutrition
665 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115

From Science News, Vol. 156, No. 11, September 11, 1999, p. 164. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.