How Does Exercise Reduce Cancer Risk?

A sedentary lifestyle raises the risk of cancer, while physical activity – even moderate
exercise – can reduce the risk not only of developing cancer but having a recurrence
following treatment.

one way exercise can influence cancer risk is by lowering the amounts of insulin and
insulin-like growth factors in the bloodstream. These hormones stimulate tumor cells
to spread and survive despite the body’s attempts to kill abnormal cells. Studies
show physical activity can directly reduce insulin levels, and research on this link is
continuing. Jennifer Ligibel, MD, a Dana-Farber oncologist and director of
the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies, led a study in breast
cancer patients that showed that participation in an exercise program led to a
reduction in insulin levels in previously inactive breast cancer survivors.

Metformin, a diabetes drug being studied in cancer, also has an insulin-lowering

effect. Meyerhardt and Ligibel are leading a study in which patients with breast or
colon cancer were assigned to an exercise intervention or metformin, or both, or
neither for three months. The researchers will analyze blood samples to look for
changes in insulin and other factors related to cancer risk.

Exercise can also reduce inflammation, an acute or chronic immune response that
can contribute to cancer risk. However, scientists are just beginning to probe the
complex connections among exercise, the immune system, and cancer.

One recent study by Danish researchers suggests that exercise wards off cancer by
activating specific immune system defenders called natural killer cells. In the study,
mice were implanted with melanoma cells and half were placed in cages with a
running wheel. After four weeks, fewer of the exercising mice had
developed melanoma compared to the sedentary animals, and the exercising mice
that did have cancer showed fewer and smaller malignant lesions.

Read more:

 Tips for Exercising During and After Cancer Treatment

 How Exercise Can Help Neuropathy
 How Does Obesity Cause Cancer? Three Leading Theories

With further study, the scientists found much higher amounts of natural killer cells,
which are known to attack cancer, in the blood of mice that used the running wheel.
The experiment suggested that the killer cells may have been stimulated by
adrenaline, which increased in the rodents following their running workouts.