Exercise Can Lower The Risk Of Developing These 13 Cancers

First Posted: May 25, 2016 07:15 AM EDT

A new analysis implies that physical activity can reduce the risk of developing 13 of the 26 cancers that have been reviewed.

Medscape reports that the review was printed online in JAMA Internal Medicine on May 16, 2016. It was led by Steven C. Moore, Ph.D., National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland and other scholars.

Dr.Moore said that there are three mechanisms that have been proposed to associate physical activity to lower cancer risk. First, is through sex hormones. In the past studies, they showed that estrogens occur in lower levels in physically active women. Second, is the linked to insulin wherein active people have lower levels of insulin. According to Moore, insulin itself may be a cancer risk factor. Third is associated with inflammation, with studies implying that exercise is associated with lower levels of inflammatory markers. He said that inflammation is a general cancer risk factor.

Meanwhile, Marilie D. Gammon, Ph.D. from Gillings School of Public Health, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said that the findings were exciting because they underscore the significance of leisure-time physical activity as a potential risk-education strategy to decrease the cancer burden in the United States and others parts of the world.

The risk reduction ranges from 10 percent to 42 percent for the 13 cancers. These include lung cancer (Hazard Ratio --HR, 0.74), colon cancer (HR, 0.84), esophageal adenocarcinoma (HR,0.58), head and neck cancer (HR,0.85), myeloid leukemia (HR, 0.80), gastric cardia cancer (HR, 0.78), kidney cancer (HR,0.77), breast cancer (HR, 0.90), endometrial cancer (HR, 0.79), bladder cancer (HR, 0.87), rectal cancer (HR, 0.87), liver cancer (HR,0.73) and myeloma (HR,0.83).

The findings recommend on minimum activity levels because the message that physical activity lowers the cancer risk can be also be added to that for cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Moore noted that in terms of getting people to be active, it depends on the number of communities and the number of constituencies that are invested in pushing it as a public health message.

WebMD states that the best exercises consider by health experts are walking, interval training, strength training that includes squats, lunges and push-ups. They also involve bent-over row and abdominal crunches.