Exercise May Reduce Risk Of 13 Cancers

And now, thirteen ways of looking at exercise: Researchers at the University of North Carolina’s school of public health are convinced that working out just a couple of times a week can cut the risk of 13 types of cancer, including cancer of the breast, colon, lung, as well as leukemia, myeloma and cancers of the esophagus, liver, kidney, stomach, endometrium, rectum, bladder, and head and neck. Yikes!  Science Daily reports on the research, which looked at 1.4 million people, and which found an association between exercise and cancer reduction, but not a cause and effect relationship. The researchers examined whether self-reported physical activity made a difference in risk of 26 cancers, and they found that exercise was associated with a reduced risk for half of the cancers considered. The range of reduced risk ran from 42 percent for esophageal cancer to 10 percent for breast cancer. For colon and lung cancer, risk was lowered 16 percent and 26 percent, respectively, and overall, a higher level of physical activity was associated with a 7 percent lower risk of total cancer.