Tag Archives: physical activity

Physical activity reduces the risk of breast cancer

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Physical activity reduces the risk of developing breast cancer because it changes the way the hormone oestrogen is broken down, according to a new study.

The research, carried out by the University of Minnesota’s Department of Food Science, found that women who exercise regularly produced different oestrogen waste products to women who led a sedentary lifestyle.

Professor Mindy Kurzer, who led the study said: ‘Studies suggest physical activity lowers breast cancer risk, but there are no clinical studies that explain [why].

‘Ours is the first study to show that aerobic exercise influences the way our bodies break down oestrogens to produce more of the ‘good’ [byproducts] that lower breast cancer risk.’

The Women in Steady Exercise Research (WISER) clinical trial, involved 391 sedentary, healthy, young, premenopausal women.

They randomly assigned the women to two age-matched, body mass index-matched groups: a control group of 179 women and an intervention group of 212 women.

While women in the control group continued a sedentary lifestyle for the entire study period, women in the intervention group performed 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise five times a week for 16 weeks.

Aerobic exercises included the treadmill, stair stepper or elliptical machine.
The researchers adjusted the workout intensity for each individual so that the maximal heart rate was uniform among all participants.

Breast cancer

Breast cancer

The researchers collected daily urine samples on three days prior to study and on three consecutive days at the end of the study.

They then measured the levels of three types of oestrogen and nine of their by-products or metabolites, in the participants’ urine samples.


The results showed that those who exercised produced more of by-product called 2-OHE1 and less of another called 16alpha-OHE1, which has been linked with a reduction in breast cancer risk.

There were no changes in the levels of these chemicals in those who did not exercise.

‘Exercise, known to favour fitness and improve heart health, is also likely to help prevent breast cancer by altering estrogen metabolism,’ said Kurzer.

‘It is very important, however, to decipher the biological mechanisms behind this phenomenon.’

In collaboration with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Professor Kurzer is now conducting similar studies in women with a high risk for breast cancer.

The research was published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research..

Physical activity and arthritis

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MILLIONS suffering from arthritis can beat it with regular exercise and early treatment, research reveals.

Physical activity can slash the risk of disability and ease the pain of a range of conditions including arthritis, back pain and brittle bone disease.

For some, the level of improvement increases with the number of exercise sessions, a review of scientific research found.

A second study also hails the benefits of aggressive, early treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

The chances of disability can be significantly reduced when drugs, which can halt the disease’s destructive process, are started soon after it begins.

Jane Tadman, a spokeswoman for Arthritis Research UK, said: “We know that exercise is one of the best things you can do if you have arthritis or a musculoskeletal complaint. People should keep moving as much as they can and exercise to the best of their ability.

“The current accepted way of treating rheumatoid arthritis is aggressive, early treatment to get the disease under control before the joints become damaged and deformed.

“A lot of researchers are now looking at the idea of personalised medicine where you can target a particular drug for a patient at a particular time.”

According to research published in the journal Mayo Clinic Health Letter, drugs can prevent the immune system from attacking the joints. But the longer the disease persists, the less likely it will respond to treatment.

Experts at the National Resource Centre for Rehabilitation in Rheumatology in Norway found that exercise therapy for bone and muscle conditions had clear medical benefits.

arthritis

Arthritis

They wrote in the journal BMC Medicine: “Exercise can decrease pain and improve physical functioning.

For the management of all musculoskeletal diseases included in the present overview, exercise therapy is unanimously recommended.”

The findings will bring hope that keeping active can vastly improve the lives of at least 10 million Britons who suffer from painful conditions.

The Norwegian researchers looked at scientific reviews across 224 trials and 24,059 patients. They found the effects of regular exercise were most important for knee osteoarthritis, lower back and shoulder pain by increasing bone mass density.


But for neck pain, hip osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis, improvements were less significant.

According to Arthritis Research UK, exercise is vital to help minimise the destruction of joints.

It says: “Many people are afraid to exercise because they believe – mistakenly – that exercise causes further damage to their joints.

“But your body is designed to move and inactivity is harmful to the tissues in and around the joints. So to prolong the life of your joints, you should remain active.”

Exercises recommended by the charity include swimming, walking, cycling and fitness classes as well as stretching and strengthening exercises.

Stretching exercises are often very simple such as stretching your arms in the morning when you wake. People should move as far as they can until they feel a stretch in the muscles and hold it for five to 10 seconds before relaxing and repeating the movement. However, they must be done slowly and stop if they feel pain.

Pilates, a type of exercise that focuses on strengthening the muscles involved in improving posture and keeping the joints in the correct position, is also recommended.