Exercising may reduce lung cancer risk

Everyone knows smoking is a bad idea, but those who can't give it up may get a little protection from exercise, a study suggests. In a study of older women, researchers found that a physically active smoker had a 35 percent lower risk of lung cancer than a sedentary smoker.

Even so, one expert called that reduction trivial because smoking itself is so risky. And Dr. Kathryn Schmitz, the study's lead author, stressed that exercising does not give women a free pass to smoke.

"The most important thing that smokers can do to reduce the risk of lung cancer is quit smoking," said Schmitz, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

Those who quit smoking are 10 to 11 times less likely to develop lung cancer than those who smoke, she said.........