Physical exercise, a shield against cancer

• Oncology.Women who do not exercise are more likely to develop breast cancer

Physical exercise reduces the risk of suffering nothing more and nothing less than seven types of tumors: breast, colon, endometrium, kidney, liver, myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Up to 27% less likely to have liver cancer if the person, for example, does aerobics five days a week for 30 minutes. This is confirmed by an investigation conducted on a population of more than 750,000 people.

"The patterns of physical activity have always focused on its impact on chronic diseases such as cardiovascular and diabetes," says the main author of this epidemiological work, Alpa Patel, of the American Cancer Society . "Our data provide strong support for the idea that recommended levels of exercise are also important for cancer prevention."

Currently, the World Health Organization (WHO) advises adults (aged between 18 and 64) a minimum of 150 minutes per week of moderate aerobic activity (dancing, brisk walking or housework) or 75 minutes if it is intense (running, aerobics or fast cycling trips).

The association between exercise and cancer prevention is gaining more and more strength in recent years. In fact, already in 2017, the American Association of Medical Oncology (ASCO) declared the need to prescribe instead of recommending physical exercise. According to their indications, between 30 and 60 minutes of moderate movement a day help reduce the risk of breast cancer, for example.

At this point, it is worth recalling a Spanish study developed by the GEICAM Breast Cancer Research Group and published in the journal Gynecologic . As the conclusions pointed out, women who did not practice any type of physical activity had a 71% higher risk of breast cancer than those who did.

A great prize that requires awareness, vol untad and more study, since, according to the authors of the research that has just been published in the 'Journal of Clinical Oncology', there is not so much information about the 'doses' necessary for according to what types of response in each kind of tumor. With this intention, a team of experts from the National Cancer Institute of the United States, the American Cancer Society and the Harvard School of Public Health has analyzed data from nine prospective studies involving more than 750,000 adults.

On the one hand, the physical activity performed by these nine cohorts in their free time was taken into account and on the other, the incidence of cancer was monitored, thus observing the relationship between the exercise performed and the new diagnoses of 15 different tumors .

From this information, the researchers observed clear benefits, statistically more or less relevant depending on the weekly hours and the intensity of the exercise performed. Thus, for example, a man who walks 5 km / h four times a week for 37 minutes (equivalent to 7.5 MET hours per week) has an 8% lower risk of colon cancer and a 11% less likely to suffer a kidney tumor. Your chances of having myeloma (14%) and liver cancer (18%) are also reduced. In the case of a woman, her ballots in breast cancer are reduced by 6%, endometrial by 10% and Hodgkin lymphoma by 11%.

When the weekly energy expenditure was higher, the benefits multiplied. Patel and his team found that if an individual performed a more intense activity, such as aerobics or running, for 30 minutes five times a week (equivalent to 15 MET hours per week), for example, he had a 14% lower risk of suffer from colon cancer, 17% lower than having a kidney tumor, 27% lower liver cancer and 19% suffer from myeloma. In the case of a woman, the chances of developing breast cancer by 10%, endometrial by 18% and Hodgkin lymphoma by another 18% are reduced.

The handicap of this work focused on some tumors where the number of patients was very small. However, "our findings provide quantitative support for the recommendation of physical activity in cancer prevention." We must not forget that the number of tumors in the world continues to grow, from the estimated 14 million cases in 2012 to 18.1 million in 2018.

In Spain, cancer is also one of the main causes of morbidity . Although not yet finished 2019, about 277,234 diagnoses are calculated, according to data from the report 'The figures for cancer in Spain 2019' of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM). Among the most frequent, the colon, breast, lung and urinary bladder.

"The results of this work are very interesting because they show evidence of how physical exercise affects cancer prevention," says María Alonso, coordinator of the physical exercise program in oncology at Geicam. " More professionals are needed to focus on this area and it is also necessary to reinforce the guidelines on physical exercise in oncology."

For specialists, the ideal would be to design an individual plan that adapts to the circumstances and characteristics of each individual, both to prevent and to overcome. It is known that physical activity has the necessary active ingredients to counteract fatigue and muscle weakness that are associated with cancer treatment based on chemo, surgery and radio.

Exercise not only improves these symptoms, but also mood, motivation, helps mitigate insomnia, anxiety, fear, regains a healthy weight, enhances cardiac and pulmonary functioning, reduces oxidative stress and also It has a positive effect on the immune system.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• Science and Health

Daniel's hidden discrimination: "I can't be a taxi driver because I have HIV"

The next world Miguel Torres: "In 10 or 15 years, we could have therapies to regenerate heart tissue after a heart attack"

Health The PSOE of a town in Extremadura hires the 'Alzira model' that the PSPV Council rejects