A new study has found that simply moving more can slash the chances of colon cancer returning \u2014 and the effect is so strong that it rivals some cancer drugs. The research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine and led by Canadian scientists, highlights the powerful role of exercise in fighting cancer and improving long-term survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers studied 889 people who had already undergone surgery and chemotherapy for colon cancer. Half of the group received health education about exercise, while the other half took part in a three-year program of structured, supervised exercise. They found that people who did regular aerobic activities, like brisk walking or jogging, had a 28 percent lower risk of their cancer coming back, developing new cancers, or dying over an eight-year period compared to those who only got the health education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The five-year cancer-free survival rate was 80.3 percent for the exercise group, compared to 73.9 percent for the group that didn\u2019t change their exercise habits. Overall survival rates after eight years were also better for the exercise group, hitting 90.3 percent versus 83.2 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Kerry S. Courneya from the University of Alberta in Canada, who led the study, noted, \u201cThe magnitude of benefit from exercise was similar to that of many currently approved standard drug treatments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The surprising part of the study was how simple the exercise could be. People didn\u2019t have to become marathon runners to see these benefits. Participants were coached to do any kind of aerobic exercise they enjoyed. Just 45 to 60 minutes of brisk walking three to four times a week, or 25 to 30 minutes of jogging three to four times a week, was enough to make a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study used something called MET hours to measure exercise. METs stand for Metabolic Equivalents of Task \u2014 basically, how much energy your body burns while doing different activities. Brisk walking is about four METs and jogging is about 10. The goal was to get at least 20 MET hours of exercise a week. For example, someone could meet this target by taking five one-hour brisk walks a week or by jogging for two hours spread across the week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scientists are still trying to figure out exactly how exercise keeps cancer from coming back. One theory is that exercise boosts the immune system and reduces inflammation, both of which could make it harder for cancer cells to grow. Exercise might also improve blood flow and insulin sensitivity \u2014 factors that can help control tumor growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this study, exercise didn\u2019t just reduce the chance of colon cancer coming back. It also seemed to lower the risk of other cancers like breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For cancer survivors, these findings offer a safe and affordable way to improve their chances of staying cancer-free. Dr. David Sebag-Montefiore, an oncologist at the University of Leeds, called it an \u201cexciting breakthrough.\u201d He said structured exercise \u201coffers the benefits without the downside of the well-known side effects of our other treatments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, there were a few more injuries among those who exercised, such as muscle strains or joint pain, which were reported by 18.5 percent of participants in the exercise group versus 11.5 percent in the health education group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Marco Gerlinger of Queen Mary University of London said this research now lets oncologists \u201cmake a very clear evidence-based recommendation\u201d when patients ask how to stop cancer from returning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The results were so strong that the researchers believe health care systems should start to include supervised exercise programs in standard cancer care. As they wrote, \u201cKnowledge alone is unlikely to change patient behavior and outcomes. To achieve meaningful increases in exercise will require that health systems invest in behavior-support programs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study\u2019s findings mean that even moderate exercise, done regularly, could become a new standard part of cancer treatment. For patients finishing chemotherapy, a walking plan might be just as important as any prescription.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HNZ Editor: <\/strong> Still not immortality or even a cure, but certainly a step in the right direction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new study has found that simply moving more can slash the chances of colon cancer returning \u2014 and the effect is so strong that it rivals some cancer drugs. The research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine and led by Canadian scientists, highlights the powerful role of exercise in fighting cancer and improving long-term survival. Big Reductions in Risk Researchers studied 889 people who had already undergone surgery and chemotherapy for colon cancer. Half of the group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancer-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6782"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6784,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6782\/revisions\/6784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}