Exercise can indeed prevent cancer, but the premise is...

In January 2021, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released data on the global cancer burden in 2020. This estimated data shows that in 2020, there will be 19.29 million new cancer cases and 9.96 million cancer deaths worldwide.

In 2020, there were 4.57 million new cases of cancer and 3 million cancer deaths in China.

Globally, due to the increasing aging of the population, as well as smoking, unhealthy diet, obesity, lack of exercise and other reasons, it is estimated that the cancer burden will increase by 50% in 2040 compared to 2020, and the number of new cancer cases worldwide will reach nearly 30 million by then.

Many studies have shown that exercise has multiple health benefits, helping to prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, and even improving the treatment of various cancers.

Recently, researchers from the American Cancer Society published a new study in the Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, which showed that 3% of all cancer cases in adults aged 30 and over can be attributed to lack of exercise, and the proportion is even higher in women; if more than 5 hours of moderate-intensity exercise is performed per week, more than 46,000 cases of cancer can be prevented each year in the United States alone.

What research is there?

A research paper published in Cancer Research by researchers from Columbia University in the United States shows that appropriate physical activity can effectively reduce the risk of breast cancer in high-risk women!

A case-control study published in the International Journal of Cancer showed that exercising in the early morning (8-10 a.m.) was protective against both breast and prostate cancer compared with participants who did not exercise.

A research paper published in the journal Cancer Immunology Research by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital in the United States showed that exercise can enhance CD8+ cells through CXCR3 signaling, thereby inhibiting tumor development, and can also enhance the therapeutic effect of immune checkpoint therapy on breast cancer.

Exercise can improve cancer treatment by boosting the activity of the immune system and making anti-tumor cells more effective, according to a study published in the journal eLife by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

A study published in the Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise shows that exercise not only improves overall health, but also releases a "secret weapon" - myokine - that slows the growth of cancer cells.

Based on the results of the above studies, it is not difficult to find that the benefits of exercise in fighting cancer are multifaceted: from preventing cancer to slowing down cancer progression, from inhibiting tumor development to improving immune activity. The study at the beginning of this article more precisely recommends: moderate intensity exercise for more than 5 hours per week.

Source: World Science

Sources:

Proportion of Cancer Cases Attributable to Physical Inactivity by US State, 2013—2016

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