
Researchers in Sweden decided to measure the impact of
intense exercise on prostate cancer. This was driven by the observation that
the incidence of prostate cancer tracks the relative affluence of the country.
The “well off” countries have a 20 times higher incidence of prostate cancer
compared to less developed countries.
It is difficult to test theories about cancer cell growth
with human subjects. This particular study, recently published in the journal
PLOS One, used human subjects for the “exercise” portion of the study, but lab
mice for the “cancer cell” portion of the study. Tough on the lab mice, yes,
but at least no athletes were harmed in the production of these results.

The results were encouraging. The cancer cells exposed to
blood serum drawn after intense exercise showed nearly a third less growth than
cancer cells exposed to blood serum drawn from resting individuals. Did the
exercise kill the cancer? No, not at all. But it did slow the growth
significantly. And with prostate cancer, this may be all it takes to live a
long and healthy life.
No comments:
Post a Comment