A team of researchers from the National Cancer Institute has discovered the more often you exercise, the less likely you are to develop 13 different types of the disease. “As people did more, their risk continued to lower”. Of course, increased use of Pap smear tests, which can uncover changes in the cervix before cancer forms and also catch it in early stages is definitely one way to help combat this.
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Still, he says, the study is the most comprehensive look so far at how physical activity can influence cancer risk, and offers another potential way for people to lower their risk of the disease.
Unfortunately, the authors added, they did not take into account whether or not the participants’ diets or smoking habits influenced the outcome of their cancer risk.
The study has found that overall, a higher level of physical activity was associated with a 7 per cent lower risk of total cancer.
According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s guidelines, for “substantial health benefits”, adults should do at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity, with the exercise spread throughout the week rather than performed in one massive workout session. What researchers ended up finding was that women who had cervical cancer had significantly increased odds of classifying themselves as “inactive” on the questionnaire compared to the ladies who didn’t have cervical cancer. The full findings of the study can be found in JAMA Internal Medicine. Their rates of myeloma, colon and head and neck cancers were 17 percent, 16 percent and 15 percent lower, respectively.
“Furthermore, our results support that these associations are broadly generalizable to different populations, including people who are overweight or obese, or those with a history of smoking”.
Despite the fact that an association was found between exercise and decreased cancer risk, the study could not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
The study revealed that 187,000 cases of cancer emerged over 11 years. Exercise enthusiasts and couch potatoes could also differ in socioeconomic characteristics that affect risk of cancer.
The new findings “underscore the importance of leisure-time physical activity as a potential risk-reduction strategy to decrease the cancer burden in the United States and overseas”, Marilie Gammon, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues wrote in a commentary accompanying the study. Physical inactivity is common, with an estimated 51 percent of people in the United States and 31 percent of people worldwide not meeting recommended physical activity levels.
In physicians’ offices, the authors noted, the findings suggest that patients who smoke or carry too much extra weight should hear not only that they should quit and lose weight, but that exercise can help reduce their odds of developing cancer. And because the study relied on how much people said they exercised, there’s a chance their answers were shaped by how much they wish they had exercised as well as how much they actually did.
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The latest study is a review paper of a dozen comprehensive studies conducted by USA and European researchers.
