Science News

Get Off your Butt To Beat Bowel Cancer

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in the US have found that regular exercie may help to prevent bowel cancer. The researchers recruited 200 healthy men and women, put them on a range of exercise programmes, then studied the cells in their bowels to see how much the cells were growing. If cells in the bowel grow too quickly, then this can be a precursor of bowel cancer. They found that for men who carried out exercise for an hour per day, six days per week, had less cell growth in their bowels than those who did fewer exercise sessions. And even men who just managed four hours per week had some protection. Unfortunately, there appeared to be no protective effect for women who exercised, although other research has shown that regular exercise can reduce the risk of breast cancer. Exercise also helps you to maintain a healthy body weight - after smoking, obesity is the leading preventable cause of cancer in the UK. So as well as helping you fit into your genes, getting moving could also reduce your risk of cancer. More about exercise and cancer here: info.cancerresearchuk.org/healthyliving/exerciseandactivity/howdoweknow/.

16th Sep 2006