Much research has linked regular exercise to a lower risk of cancer, but a new study suggests that having a better body can reduce the risk of prostate cancer in particular, a diagnosis that affects about 113 out of every 100,000 men each year in the United States. United.
The research, published Tuesday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, showed that men whose cardiorespiratory fitness improved by 3% or more per year over three years were, on average, 35% less likely to develop prostate cancer than men whose cardiorespiratory fitness declined. By 3%. % annually. This was true regardless of the men’s fitness levels when they started.
It’s proof, in other words, that “no matter how old you are, no matter where you are in your life or your relative physical fitness, if you improve your physical fitness, even by a relatively small amount, you may significantly reduce your risk of prostate cancer.” “Cancer,” said Dr. William Oh, chief medical officer at the Prostate Cancer Foundation, who was not involved in the research.
Cardiorespiratory fitness is a measure of how well the heart and lungs deliver oxygen to the muscles during exercise.
For the study, researchers from the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences analyzed data from more than 57,000 men in Sweden who were registered in a health database as early as 1982. The men performed at least two physical fitness tests, which involved pedaling on a stationary machine. bike and measure the volume of oxygen they used during vigorous exercise. Higher volume indicates a greater fitness level.
Tests were generally conducted years apart, although the exact time interval varied by participant. The researchers then analyzed whether the men developed prostate cancer after an average of seven years had passed since their last fitness tests.
Study co-author Kate Bolam, a researcher at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, said the results indicated that men could reduce their risk of prostate cancer by improving their cardiorespiratory fitness through activities that raise their heart rates.
“They want to target more vigorous activities, which are activities that we would do and struggle to maintain a conversation with a friend,” she said. “Line dancing can be great if it gets your heart rate up and you think it’s fun and you’ll do it regularly.”
Jogging, hiking, or swimming are also good options.
Before the new study, research yielded mixed results about whether exercise reduces the risk of prostate cancer. Some studies have even found that men with high physical fitness levels have a slightly increased risk of prostate cancer, but other factors may have skewed those results, said Dr. John Chan, a professor of urology at the University of California, San Francisco.
“People who exercise generally follow other healthy lifestyle practices, which includes getting screened for prostate cancer,” she said. “This can create this appearance of a positive association.”
However, when the Swedish researchers took into account the men’s baseline levels of fitness at the time of their first tests, they found that those with moderate fitness levels — neither too high nor too low — saw a reduced risk of prostate cancer.
There may be two reasons for this, Bolam said: People who are very physically active may not get additional benefits from improving their cardiorespiratory fitness beyond a certain point. On the other end of the spectrum, people who do not exercise may have other health conditions that increase their risk of prostate cancer, such as obesity, and relatively small improvements in their physical fitness may not be enough to reduce this risk.
The researchers also found no association between changes in cardiorespiratory fitness and the risk of death from prostate cancer. They said there may have been too few deaths in the study group to detect a link.
Other studies have indicated that improving cardiorespiratory fitness reduces the overall risk of death from cancer. A study last year found that at least 120 minutes of moderate exercise or at least 40 minutes of vigorous exercise per week reduces the overall risk of death among cancer patients. (The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services generally recommends 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week, with muscle-strengthening activities on at least two of those days.)
Previous research by Chan also found that intense exercise improved outcomes in men who had already been diagnosed with prostate cancer. A 2011 study found that doing at least three hours of vigorous exercise per week can significantly improve survival rates. Another study in the same year found that brisk walking could prevent or delay the development of cancer.
“This led us to the hypothesis that there is something about raising the heart rate that is important,” she said. Although the exact mechanism linking exercise and cancer risk is not fully understood, it is possible that physical activity can help with weight loss, improve the body’s response to insulin, or reduce chronic inflammation.
However, Oh pointed out that there are other risk factors for prostate cancer besides physical fitness.
“Up to a third of patients may have a true genetic risk, which means the rest of the risk is probably related to lifestyle and environment,” he said. “People cannot control their genetic backgrounds, and oftentimes, we cannot control our environments as much as we would like. The only thing we can really control is our lifestyle.”
#Study #Improving #physical #fitness #risk #prostate #cancer
