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A man’s cardiovascular fitness during middle age may impact his ability to fight cancer later in life. That is the finding of a recent study published in JAMA Oncology.
Researchers found that men who were diagnosed with cancer at the age of 65 or older reduced their risk of dying from the disease by 33 percent if they had high cardiovascular respiratory fitness (CRF) during middle age.
The study, which analyzed treadmill results, found that even slight improvements in CRF improved outcomes for participants. For example, men who ran an 11-minute mile were 10 percent less likely to die from a cancer diagnosis than men who ran an 11.5-minute mile. Study participants with a high CRF were also 50 percent less likely to develop lung cancer and more than 40 percent less likely to develop colon cancer than men with a low CRF.
“Pretty amazing that a decade-and-a-half before the event, your cardio fitness predicted what was going to happen with cancer,” says Dr. David Angus, medical contributor for CBS News who reported on the study for CBS This Morning.
Other studies have published similar outcomes. A recent study in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that mice with breast cancer that had hypoxic cancer cells, or cells with low oxygen, fought the disease worse than mice that had cancer cells with a healthy supply of oxygen.
One explanation for the results of both studies is that cancer-fighting treatments like chemotherapy drugs and radiation work more effectively with oxygen. Another explanation is that exercise changes the body's environment making cancer less of a threat.
Although the study was only conducted on male participants, researchers say the same physiological response to exercise should hold true for women.
To learn more, read the full article.
