Mya Nelson
The research on physical activity and cancer prevention keeps growing, with a new review of the evidence including over 2 million people suggesting that getting plenty of activity – whether for work or fun – may help prevent kidney cancer.
The analysis was published in the British Journal of Cancer. Here’s the abstract.
This analysis of all the relevant studies – 19 in total – found that those who were the most active had a 12 percent reduced risk of kidney cancer compared to the least active. It did not matter if people got their activity as part of their job or recreationally.
The studies included 2.3 million individuals, with almost 11,000 of them being diagnosed with kidney cancer. All of the studies investigated the link between physical activity and kidney cancer among cancer-free individuals.
Then the researchers conducted another analysis, using only the top-third highest quality studies and found the link was even stronger. The studies that scored well enough to place them into the top tier tended to use an objective measure of physical activity, looked at recreational physical activity and took into account a person’s weight and whether he/she smoked or had diabetes.
When focusing on what the authors called “high-quality” studies, there was a 22 percent reduced risk comparing those who were the most to least physically activity. The finding held after taking into account body fat, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, smoking and gender.
The National Cancer Institute estimates that 65,000 people living in the United States will develop kidney cancer this year. It will cause almost 14,000 deaths.
The one way that AICRs expert report and its updates found people can prevent kidney cancer is by staying a healthy weight. AICR estimates that almost one in four kidney cancers – 24 percent — are caused by carrying excess body fat.
Smoking is another recognized risk factor for this cancer.
AICR’s Continuous Update Project is scheduled to analyze the evidence on preventing kidney cancer in 2014.
