Start exercising now to lower your risk of colon cancer, reports a study. The correlation between exercise and colon cancer is substantial, according to study results from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, and Harvard University: Study subjects who exercised the most had a 24 percent lower chance of getting colon cancer, than people who exercised the least.
As a certified personal trainer, it’s easy for me to conclude that exercise cuts colon cancer risk, just based on intuition, but it’s nice to know that research clearly shows this association.
What’s particularly compelling about this study is that the link between this disease and exercise was demonstrated in spite of how the exercise was measured in this study, says Kathleen Y. Wolin, Sc.D., lead author of the study, which was reported in British Journal of Cancer (2009).
She adds, "That indicates that this is a robust association and gives all the more evidence that physical activity is truly protective against colon cancer."
Even if you’re young, lowering the risk of colon cancer is yet one more reason to start exercising, and if you already are, to stick with it.
About 10 percent of people with this disease are diagnosed when they are younger than 50. The U.S. sees about 100,000 new cases of this disease every year, with very slightly more than half affecting men.
The Washington U. study (which analyzed studies dating back to 1984 on the link between exercise and colon cancer risk) suggests that there’d be 24,000 fewer newly diagnosed cases of this illness per year in the U.S. – if people would just get moving more.
The “exercise” that’s cited in these findings includes on-the-job physical activity (including walking a lot on the job), as well as recreational exercise (walking, bicycling, swimming), and of course, more structured exercise such as gym workouts or fitness classes.
Wolin says, “ Physical activity is at the top of the list of ways that you can reduce your risk of colon cancer."
If you’re having difficulty sticking to an exercise regimen, start thinking in terms of cutting the risk of colon cancer, the third most common type of malignancy in the U.S. Maybe it’s time to ease up on worrying about your waistline and start thinking in terms of the lining of your large colon.
Symptoms of colon cancer include, but are not limited to: abdominal pain, diarrhea that alternates with constipation, long pencil thin or ribbon-like stools, blood in the stools, unexplained weight loss, and fatigue.
Usually, by the time a person starts experiencing symptoms, the disease has spread. This information should be enough to get you hopping to the gym or park.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090211193822.htm
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