Exercise when young, avoid cancer in middle age.

DOING exercise as a child protects you from heart disease and cancer in middle age, say researchers.

It even works after putting on weight as you get older, it is claimed.

Bone retains a "memory" of the effects of physical activity years after it ceases, which boosts the way the body metabolises a high-fat diet, says a study of rats by the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

The discovery could explain why some very overweight people do not develop diabetes.

Molecular geneticist Dr Justin O'Sullivan added: "It also strongly emphasises the health benefits of exercise for children."

It comes as Public Health England found just 23% of five to 15-year-old boys and 20% of girls meet recommended activity levels.

Dr O'Sullivan said: "Changes lasted long after the rats stopped doing that extra exercise - into their mid-life. The rats still got fat, but that early extra exercise set them up so they didn't have the same profile of negative effects that is common with a high-fat diet."

Scientists plan to repeat the tests to see if the effects last into old age.

CAPTION(S):

FIT Kids keep healthy