According to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology , even moderate exercise is linked to a reduced risk of seven types of cancer.
Did you overdo the good things at the end of the year and you plan to get back into sport? You are quite right. It's good for morale, but also for physical health!
Adults are generally recommended to get between 2.5 and 5 hours of moderate physical activity per week (brisk walking or gardening, for example). Otherwise, those who can can also practice about 2.5 hours of sustained activity .
These guidelines are known for their positive impact on chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease and diabetes . Nevertheless, new data now confirms that these recommended levels are also important for cancer prevention .
For this work, researchers from the American Cancer Society and the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health studied data from nine studies. This meta-analysis involved 755,000 adults followed over ten years on average.
It turned out that by following these recommendations, the risk of kidney cancer could be reduced by 17%, liver cancer by 27% and skin cancer by 19% for both men and women.
In men, exercising is also linked to a reduced risk of colon cancer of up to 14%. In women, greater physical activity is associated with a lower risk of developing breast cancer (up to 10%). Risks were also reduced by 18% for endometrial cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
It should be noted, however, that this study is observational . This means that it does not prove cause and effect . Respondents may therefore have adopted other behaviors capable of influencing cancer risk.
The researchers also note two limitations to the study. On the one hand, this work is based on self-reported levels of physical activity . And on the other hand, the vast majority of subjects were white .
Nevertheless, this is not the first time that a study has established a link between physical activity and cancer risk. Work published in 2016 in the journal JAMA Network revealed that people who exercised the most were also less likely to develop thirteen types of cancer . This included that of the bladder, esophagus, lungs, rectum and stomach.
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