The BBC News website recently reported on the findings of research from Wolin and colleagues that offered supporting evidence for the beneficial effects of physical activity on reducing the risk of developing colon cancer.
Colon cancer is responsible for over 10,000 deaths in the UK each year and thus it is important to identify interventions that might help to prevent the disease. There is existing evidence which indicates that physical activity can attenuate risk of developing cancer. Indeed, previous research does suggest a strong inverse association between physical activity and the risk of colon cancer. However, a limitation of a number of these studies is that they did not consider the relationship between physical activity and colon cancer alone, but rather include end points for colorectal cancer. While a meta-analysis had previously been completed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) investigating physical activity and colon cancer, this used data reported prior to 2000, thus there is a need for a current analysis using more recent literature. The findings of the meta-analysis conducted by Wolin and colleagues support those from the WHO and report a 24% reduction in the risk of developing colon cancer in those the most active compared the least active population groups. Encouragingly, these figures were similar for both men and women. These findings offer further evidence of the beneficial effect of physical activity in reducing the risk of developing non-communicable disease such as colon cancer and thus further highlight the need for us as a nation to adopt more active lifestyles.
Full reference for paper:
Wolin, K.Y., Yan, Y., Colditz, G.A. and Lee, I-M. (2009) Physical activity and colon cancer prevention: a meta-analysis. British Journal of Cancer advance online publication (10th February 2009, doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6604917).