- Getting regular exercise is about to become increasingly important to help prevent cancer.
- A growing number of people report gaining weight after cutting back on physical activity, while others say they eat more junk food.
- Being overweight or obese leaves individuals vulnerable to tissue damage and cancer development, with more than a dozen types of cancer that have been linked to excess weight in recent studies.
- Tobacco and smoking remain the leading cause of cancer; obesity is now the second highest risk and is likely to become the leading cause in the future.
- People are quitting smoking but increasing numbers are becoming overweight and obese.
- It is predicted that by 2040 obesity will have surpassed smoking as the leading preventable cause of cancer.
- breast and bowel cancers benefit from better physical activity.
- Scientists found that gentle exercise reduced levels of liver inflammation in mice, which can lead to tumors, and improved metabolism in older mice, even in those that had advanced liver disease. Physiological activityResearch is important because liver cancer rates in humans have increased by three-fifths in the UK over the past decade,
- 135,000 cases of cancer – about four out of 10 British cases – could be prevented each year largely through lifestyle changes with more physical activity.
- The real problem is having too much fat in our bodies. However, there is plenty of evidence that helping people become more active can do a lot of good. And this area is understudied, so it’s very possible that there may be more cancer prevention benefits through increased physical activity that we don’t yet know about.
(Source: The Guardian)
