Health

Exercise cuts risk of colon cancer

by Paul Conneally | February 13, 2009 at 07:31 am

176 views | 10 Recommendations | 2 comments

Exercise can cut the risk of colon cancer by up to 24% according to a new paper but it's unclear just how much exercise or what kind of exercise will result in this 24% decrease in risk. The new research has looked at other research projects and reviewed results and found that those that exercised the most got the biggest reduction in risk.

Exercise in itself is good for all kinds of health reasons but to get maximum benefit other lifestyle choices need to be made too such as eating health food and not drinking too much alcohol etc.

Cancer of the colon is one of the more common cancers and information about any sensible measures that can be taken to cut the risk of getting it are to be welcomed.

Your colon is your large intestine, sometimes also called your bowel. It's about two metres long, and carries food waste to your rectum, which then pushes the waste out of your body when you go to the toilet.

Colon cancer is one of the more common cancers. About 36,500 people are diagnosed with this cancer each year in the UK. More than 8 in 10 people diagnosed with cancer of the colon or rectum are aged 60 or over.

Previous studies have indicated that exercise cuts your chances of getting cancer of the colon. Doctors think this could be for a number of reasons.

Exercise improves the way your body processes sugar in your blood, and means you don't need to produce so much insulin. This may help your digestive system work better.

Exercise may reduce the amount of inflammation in your body.

You're less likely to get constipation if you do plenty of exercise. So food waste moves faster through your colon.

People who get out and about doing physical exercise may have more vitamin D, from being in sunlight. Vitamin D may protect against cancer.