- Researchers are reporting that good cardiovascular fitness can help reduce the risk of nine types of cancer, including lung, liver and rectal cancer.
- They say the risk reduction is between 5% and 42% for these various cancers.
- Experts say regular exercise has anti-inflammatory properties that can help reduce cancer risk.
Cardiovascular fitness can reduce the risk of nine types of cancer.
That’s the conclusion of new research published today in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
In their long-term study, researchers report that having good vascular health as a young person can reduce the risk of developing some cancer by 40% later in life, at least for men.
The link to a reduced risk was found in cancers of the head and neck, stomach, food pipe (esophagus), lungs, liver, pancreas, kidney, and bowel.
The researchers defined cardiorespiratory fitness as a person’s ability to do aerobic exercise, such as running, cycling, and swimming for sustained periods, or even to climb stairs.
In previous research, exercise has been linked with lower risks of cancers, but few large, long-term studies of multiple cancers have been done.
Researchers used linked Swedish registry data up to the end of 2019 that included background information, medical diagnoses, and deaths for more than 1 million conscripts who started their military service between 1968 and 2005.
The subjects began their service when they were between 16 and 25 years old. They underwent a standard battery of assessments, including height, weight, blood pressure, muscular strength, and cardiorespiratory fitness.
Researchers looked at 365,874 conscripts with a low level of cardiorespiratory fitness as well as 519,652 with a moderate level and 340,952 with a high level.
Conscripts considered to have lower cardiorespiratory fitness were slightly more likely to be obese, more likely to deal with alcohol and substance misuse, and to have parents with lower educational attainment than the conscripts with a higher…
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