Start exercising now to cut risk of breast cancer

Past research trying to link the benefits of regular exercise with a decrease in the chance of developing breast cancer among women has revealed mixed results. Many studies have suggested that being regularly active may help to protect against the disease while other studies have shown no correlation between the two. Dr. Joan Dorn and colleagues at the State University of New York at Buffalo are pleased to add their findings to the list of those concurring that exercise does help in the battle against breast cancer. The 1,550 participants in the study were asked to report their activity levels at four points in their lives: ages 16 and 20, and 2 and 10 years before the study was conducted. In both pre- and post-menopausal women, the participants who reported being regularly active for the longest period of time (for twenty years before the study) were about half as likely to develop breast cancer as those who were not consistently active in the past. The women who fell into the active category participated in an average of about three and one-half hours of relatively strenuous exercise per week.