Exercise and bad diet

[yolande]

I have a friend who does a lot of exercise (easily competing to triathlon standard and running half marathons comfortably). He eats an awful diet though - just pies, chips and occasional orange juice. What is the impact of this? If you eat large amounts of saturated fat and salt does this still end up clogging your arteries or is he ok because of the exercise? Thanks

[alijangra]

Regardless of exercise this diet will harm him, the exercise stops it being stored as body fat but the blood lipid levels will still be raised. The high salt intake will also damage the heart and kidneys if taken over a prolonged period.

[LouUK]

I completely agree with 'alijangra'. The damage to the body is unseen, as it is all internal. Your friend may not notice any affects of the diet now, but there maybe some sort of serious consequences waiting to happen ie a massive heart attack.