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Exercise can save you from colon cancer
28/Sep/2006: A new study has found that exercising for an hour a day; six day a week can save us from colon cancer, the third most common form of cancer and the second deadly in the western world.
Brisk or normal exercises reduce growth of cells in microscopic pits lining the colon (the part of the intestine from the caecum to the rectum). Cell growth in these pits, called colonic crypts, can lead to the formation of polyps (an abnormal growth of tissues), which can turn in to malignant tumors (cancerous tumors), in the due course of time.
This study was carried out by researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, who studied 202 men and women in the age group of 40 – 75. They found that cell growth in colonic crypts in men who exercised for 4-5 hours a week dropped by 1.7% and 2.4% in men who exercised for more than five hours a week.
No change was noted in those men who did not exercise at all. This study showed that the intensity of exercises play a role in reducing the risk of colon cancer. Men who showed improvements in their cardiovascular fitness, due to brisk exercising, were at lesser risk to colon cancer, as they are likely to see a significant reduction in cell proliferation in colonic crypts.
The study also found that exercises do not reduce the risk of colon cancer in women. Women in the study did not see any drop in the growth of cells in colonic crypts, but the researchers believe that since women do not exercise as hard as men, the cell proliferation in their colonic crypts showed no reduction during this study.
Moreover, estrogen levels in women’s body drop significantly during exercises and it explains why there is no reduction in the cell growth in colonic crypts, as estrogen is linked to colon health in women.
K Siva
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