A new Swedish study published in JAMA Open Network has revealed that cardio fitness levels in men can be linked to reduced cancer risk. These may include prostate, lung, and colon cancers.
Association Between Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Cancer Risk in Swedish Men: Key Findings
- Study enrolled over 177,000 Swedish men (ages 18-75) and analyzed health profile assessment data from 1982 to 2019 to.
- High levels of cardio fitness linked to significantly lower risk of developing cancer in men.
- Participants followed for an average of 9.6 years; cardiorespiratory fitness measured using a submaximal cycle ergometer test.
- Avoiding really low cardio fitness levels can decrease colon cancer risk by 4% to 8%.
- Preventable cancer cases calculated based on data; 4-19% of prostate cancer deaths and 4% of lung cancer deaths could be prevented by avoiding really low cardio fitness levels.
- Moderate and high levels of cardio fitness associated with a 43% and 71% reduction in prostate cancer death probability, respectively.
- Men with high levels of cardio fitness reduced their chances of death by lung cancer by 59% (after adjusting for variables such as smoking).
The correlation revealed in the study is explained by Dr. Jennifer Ligibel, director of the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Ligibel has explained that it is due to the physiological changes that happen in the body during exercises, such as a reduction in systemic inflammation, abdominal obesity, cholesterol imbalances, and impaired insulin sensitivity, due to which a lower cancer incidence rate is detected.
According to Elin Ekblom-Bak, a senior lecturer with the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences in Stockholm and lead researcher of the study, “Better cardiorespiratory fitness [CRF] is not only important for reducing cardiovascular disease risk, which is often communicated, but also for reducing cancer risk in men. Current cancer prevention guidelines focus on physical activity, but these findings show that CRF is also very important for both reducing cancer risk and the risk of death from common cancers in men.”
Although the study is appreciated for many participating men receiving the “gold-standard test” distinction, Ekblom-Bak has gone ahead to explain that the effects of exercise are many and varied. While the intensity of workouts needs to be at least moderate to maintain and show fitness results, the intensity and the amount of physical activity performed, but also individual genetic factors, play a role in the results.
In the case of the effects that increased cardiorespiratory activity has on women, it has been observed in the past that it has led to a lower cancer risk, such as breast cancer and colon cancer. Therefore, experts believe that these results will hold up for women too.
