Study shows physical activity can reduce the incidence of breast cancer

More time spent moving and less time sitting seems to reduce the incidence of breast cancer, shows a new study partially funded by the governments of Canada and Quebec. According to the study results, if we could convince a cohort of 100 women to adopt an active lifestyle, there would be 41% fewer cases of breast cancer in this group than in a group of 100 sedentary women. If the women engaged in vigorous physical activity at least three days a week the incidences of breast cancer would be even lower at 38% compared to fully sedentary women. "For 100 people who do moderate-intensity physical activity (the equivalent of a brisk walk—it's not a marathon), 40% … are not going to have any breast cancer compared to a population that does not have it,” summarizes Kaoutar Ennour-Idrissi, who is a doctoral candidate in epidemiology at Laval University. “If a population is very, very encouraged to do physical activity, then everyone gets involved and we will have 40% fewer cases of breast cancer [across] a population.” In contrast, a sedentary lifestyle was associated with a 104% increased risk of triple-negative breast cancer. Read: A connection between breast cancer and diabetes The study authors looked at nearly 131,000 women of European descent, including about 75,000 who had breast cancer. They used a sophisticated analysis method that allowed them to discard influencing factors such as a family history of breast cancer, which gives even more robustness to their results. Previous observational studies have also shown an association between physical inactivity and an increased risk of breast cancer. "We're going to find people who are going to say to us, ‘Ah, but I've been active all my life, I've exercised, I've taken care of my health all my life’," says Ennour-Idrissi. “This means that for a particular person, we cannot know which factors are the highest contributing factors. But if we change the behavior of a population, we will reduce 40% of cancers. From a public health perspective, this is very important.” That said, even personal breast cancer risk can be reduced by adopting an active lifestyle, watching your diet, not smoking and reducing alcohol intake, she adds. Read: Celebrity colonoscopy: Ryan Reynolds films procedure that detects polyp "When you drive a car on a highway, when you respect the speed limit, when you put on your seat belt, when you are attentive, when you are not tired, when you try to put all the chances on our side so as not to have any accidents, well, you significantly reduce your risk,” says Ennour-Idrissi, noting that there are [contributing breast cancer risk] factors outside of one's control. The study was partially funded by Genome Canada, Genome Quebec, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Cancer Society and the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation. Researchers from McGill and Laval universities also contributed. The findings of this study are published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. This article has been translated from its original French and originally appeared on our sister site Profession Santé. Read: Some cancer patients can skip treatments, 2 studies show

Study shows physical activity can reduce the incidence of breast cancer

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