Nice Idea, But Exercise Can’t Beat Cancer

The suggestion that exercise can slow or prevent cancer has been circulating for years, no doubt bolstered by the very public and remarkable recovery from cancer of cycling hero Lance Armstrong. But while the facts, sadly, don’t coincide with what we’d ike to believe, there is some slight evidence that exercise may have some effect on both breast and colon cancer. Gina Kolata, writing as usual in the New York Times, reports on the history of the hope that exercise could help, and on the difficulties encountered by researchers who have tried to nail down a connection between exercise and cancer. One problem, Kolata points out, is that people who exercise are often different in many ways from people who don’t exercise. The Times reports that some studies of breast cancer have concluded that exercise has a small effect–so small that the influence of alcohol consumption could negate any benefits. Other studies show similar–and similarly unimpressive–effects of exercise on colon cancer. Most importantly, Kolata tells us that there are many good reasons to exercise, and if warding of cancer some day is proved to be another, all the better. Read more.