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MN Researcher: Sitting Is 'The New Smoking'

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A researcher in Minnesota says that sitting is the new smoking.

Doctor James Levine from the Mayo Clinic is on a mission to get people moving more at work.

Levine is leading a study on the effects of sitting.

Levine told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that workers can burn up to 350 extra calories a day and reduce their health care costs by replacing two and a half hours a day of sitting with standing.

His research team is doing a three-month study at the company Caldrea in Minneapolis. About 30 workers at the company will be using adjustable work-fit stations and stand for part of their day.

Levine's study isn't the only one focusing on the effects of sitting too long. Others have found it linked to increase risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and early death.

Click here to see the story done by CBS News New York on the study.

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