Two Strikes Against Marathoners: Calcium and Skin Cancer

First, the bad news from Europe about marathoners: The New York Times reports that researchers at University Clinic in Essen, Germany have found that healthy men over 50 who had finished at least five marathons in the
last five years were more likely to have major calcium deposits in
their arteries than healthy men who did not run as much.
Then the additional bad news from Europe about marathoners: The Washington Post reports that researchers at the Medical University of Graz, Austria have found an increased incidence of skin cancer among men who run marathons.  The Post reports that the Austrian scientists recruited 210 marathon runners for their study and matched them for age
and sex with 210 other people they signed up at five recreation centers
in Austria. The marathon runners had more abnormal moles and lesions, and 24 were
referred for surgical treatment, while there were 14 treatment
referrals among the non-marathoners. The highest rate of referral
for treatment, the paper reports, 19 percent, was among the marathoners who trained the
most, more than 43.5 miles per week.
Read more about what you can do to protect yourself from skin cancer in the Washington Post.