Smoke in the Past? Boosting Your Fitness Now Can Cut Your Lung Cancer Risk

In the study, researchers looked at the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and lung cancer rates among men who used to smoke and those who still do.Researchers assessed nearly 3,000 men—about half were former smokers—with an average age of 59. They followed them for 11 years, and determined their cardiorespiratory fitness through treadmill tests, in which exercise capacity was determined using metabolic equivalents , a measure of how much oxygen is consumed during activity.

Of the 99 participants diagnosed with lung cancer in that timeframe, 79 of them died within five years of diagnosis. Among former smokers, each increase of 1 MET during the treadmill tests resulted in a 13 percent lower risk of developing lung cancer. And the higher their fitness levels, the lower their risks—moderate and high level groups saw lower risk scores of 51 percent and 77 percent respectively.

Current smokers saw major benefits as well, with each 1-MET increase linked to 18 percent lower risk compared to other current smokers who didn’t have increased fitness levels. Moderate-to-high fitness levels had lower risk scores of 84 percent to 85 percent. “The takeaway here is that improving or maintaining fitness levels are super important for overall health and chronic disease prevention, including reducing risk for mortality,” said lead author Baruch Vainshelboim, Ph.D., of Stanford University and the Veterans Affairs Pal Alto Health Care System.

In terms of the mechanism that makes exercise such a cancer fighter, Vainshelboim said it’s not fully understood, but that exercise is known to improve physiological functioning in many ways, including an improved metabolic state, enhanced immune system operation, and a more balanced and regulated hormonal system. All of these can have a major impact on cancer prevention, he said.

Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)

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