Who do you think would have more artery clogging in the heart: (A) a group of sedentary, overweight men; or (B) a group of men who are slightly older, much leaner, and have run at least one marathon annually for 25 years? If you picked (A), you are wrong, at least according to a new report in the issue of Missouri Medicine.
Its supporters believe the new study adds weight to the “excessive endurance exercise hypothesis,” which posits that too much exercise, like marathon training and racing, has negative effects on the heart.
The article, “Increased Coronary Artery Plaque Volume Among Male Marathon Runners,” was authored by a large group of contributors including the father/son cardiologists Robert and Jonathan Schwartz; cardiologist James O’Keefe, perhaps the leading voice in the excessive exercise movement; and Runner’s World “sports doc” William Roberts, who has been reporting on marathon-race fatalities for several decades.