Here's a good reason to go for a short walk or run today: While prior research has already found that regular exercise can reduce breast cancer risk by about 25 percent, a new study suggests that those numbers are even greater than previously thought.
Even small amounts of regular exercise, such as regularly going on short runs or walks, potentially lowered a woman's risk of dying from breast cancer by more than 40 per cent, findings showed.
Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, looked at breast cancer mortality in nearly 80,000 women during the 11 years following their baseline survey. None of the women reported a history of breast cancer before the study's launch, and each subject kept diaries on the distances that she walked or ran every week.
Findings showed that women didn't have to be serious athletes to reap the benefits, and that even a dose of seven miles per week of brisk walking or 4.75 miles per week of running were enough.
The evidence was published online this week in the journal Plos One.
Looking for other ways to reduce your risks of breast cancer? US breast cancer expert Erica Mayer of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a principal teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School, suggests getting a mammogram starting at 40, keeping your weight in check, eating a mostly plant-based diet, and limiting your alcohol intake.
11 Little Known Breast Cancer Facts
Breast cancer is actually many different types of cancer(01 of10)
Open Image ModalA lump doesn't always (or even usually) mean cancer(02 of10)
Open Image ModalBreast cancer isn't always a lump(03 of10)
Open Image ModalBreast cancer risk isn't always determined by family history(04 of10)
Open Image ModalBRCA1 or BRCA2 don't always mean cancer is in your future(05 of10)
Open Image ModalNot all women have a one-in-eight risk for breast cancer(06 of10)
Open Image ModalThis often-cited statistic is somewhat misleading. Breast cancer risk varies based on a variety of factors, including age, weight, and ethnic background. Risk increases as you get older (http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/statistics/age.htm): most breast-cancer cases are in women in their 50s and 60s. Also, some ethnic groups appear to be more susceptible to breast cancer; the National Cancer Institute in the U.S. says that white, non-Hispanic women have the highest overall risk of developing breast cancer, while women of Korean descent have the lowest risk, but African-American women have a higher death rate. Finally, being overweight or obese may also up your risk; there is evidence that being obese or overweight after menopause can up your breast-cancer risk, possibly because fat tissue is a source of estrogen. (credit:Shutterstock)
There are ways to lower your risk(07 of10)
Open Image ModalMammograms aren't foolproof(08 of10)
Open Image ModalFertility treatments don't raise your breast-cancer risk(09 of10)
Open Image ModalMost women survive breast cancer(10 of10)
Open Image Modal