Cancer survival decreased by obesity and increased by regular exercise

November 7, 4:26 PMIndianapolis Healthy Living ExaminerAmanda C. Strosahl

Previous Next

5 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Indianapolis Healthy Living Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

While obesity lowers the chance of surviving cancer, regular exercise can
improve your chance of survival, even if your BMI is still high.
(photo: by southernfried)

The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) held a press conference on November 5, 2009, during which researchers presented new information on the link between cancer and obesity. Not only does the excess body fat present in people who are overweight increase the risk of certain types of cancer, carrying extra weight can decrease your survival chances once you have cancer.

Melinda Irwin, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Yale University, presented the part of conference covering the role of exercise and weight management on cancer survivorship. In her presentation, Dr. Irwin showed excess body weight due to obesity increased the risk of death in cancer patients. She also stressed the fact that increasing physical activity to lower body weight improves the chance of survival, even if the cancer patient still has a high Body Mass Index (BMI).

Dr. Irwin suggested the reason physical activity might improve cancer survival rates is because exercise helps control hormone levels in the body, which can play a role in slowing cancer. For example, the combination of excess weight and lack of physical activity increases insulin levels in the body. Women with higher insulin levels at the time of breast cancer diagnosis have a two to three-fold increase in their risk of death than women with lower insulin levels. A recent study conducted by Dr. Irwin showed breast cancer survivors who exercised regularly decreased their insulin levels by 8% over a six-month period.

"It's true that higher BMI is associated with poorer outcomes. Now we need to ask why this is the case," said Dr. Irwin. "An increasing number of studies suggest that regular physical activity improves cancer survival, even among survivors who are overweight or obese. That's really the take-home message here."

For more articles by the Indianapolis Healthy Living Examiner, please visit Amanda's homepage.  To keep up with health news and information, click the subscribe link at the top of the page to receive email notification when new articles are published.