HOW TO LOWER YOUR RISK OF GETTING CANCER BY 10-20% - Arena District Athletic Club Skip to main content

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Bill Brown
Aug 10, 2016

HOW TO LOWER YOUR RISK OF GETTING CANCER BY 10-20%

People who did this had an impressively lower risk of getting three of the four most common cancers in the U.S.

HOW TO LOWER YOUR RISK OF GETTING CANCER BY 10-20%

Want to lessen your chances of getting the big C? Get to the Gym and Keep moving! Consistent physical exercise may be the king of the cancer killers, according to a yuuuge! new meta-analysis from the National Cancer Institute. Researchers sifted through 12 studies on 1.4 million Americans and Europeans and found that those who worked out the most had a 10–20% reduction in three of the four most common cancers in the U.S.—lung, breast, and colon and rectal cancer—along with myeloma, head and neck cancers, and bladder cancer.

 And, amazingly, they found that these avid exercisers had a greater than 20% reduction in esophageal, liver, lung, kidney, stomach, and endometrial cancer, and myeloid leukemia as well. Gallbladder cancer, small intestine cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma showed a lowering of risk, too. And another shocking, “Gotta get exercising!” fact to come out of the study: Subjects with the highest activity levels (that is, in the top 10% of all participants) improved their odds against getting the 13 cancers regardless of their BMI (body mass index) or smoking habits.
But new research, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, suggests the possible cancer-fighting benefits of exercise expand well beyond our previous beliefs—namely the number of cancers we can ward off, and the potential good exercise can do, even if you’re overweight, The New York Times reports.
HOW EXERCISE MAY LOWER YOUR RISK FOR 13 DIFFERENT TYPES OF CANCER
Researchers within the division of cancer epidemiology and genetics at the National Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, and more compiled 12 health studies conducted in the U.S. or Europe. In all, their comprehensive study included roughly 1.44 million people (the larger the scale, the more accurate the trend). These participants were asked whether they exercised, how often, and how vigorously. The researchers also looked into if and when, after each study’s start, the participants had been diagnosed with any type of cancer.

Men and women who moderately exercised—even if the time they spent exercising, like brisk walking, was slight—had a significantly smaller risk of developing 13 different types of cancer than people who were sedentary. Participants were less likely to suffer from breast, lung, and colon cancers (which we already knew); but they were also at a lower risk of developing tumors in their liver, esophagus, kidney, stomach, uterus, blood, bone marrow, head and neck, rectum, and bladder.

The top 10 percent of participants (a.k.a. those who spent the most time performing moderate or vigorous workouts each week) were as much as 20 percent less likely to develop most of the cancers in the study, compared to the 10 percent who were the least active, the researchers found.

Better news:

The more people exercised, the greater their risk for developing any of these 13 cancers dropped. Still need a reason to run, bike, swim, or hit the gym? (We didn’t think so.)

How often do you need to work out to give cancer the slip? Study head Steven Moore, Ph.D., recommends at least seven hours of brisk walking per week.

13 Cancers You Can Prevent With Exercise >>>

CATEGORIES: Nutrition & Health

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