Exercise May Protect Against Breast Cancer
Epidemiological evidence suggests that exercise reduces breast cancer rates and rates of breast cancer recurrence. However, it is not well understood why this is true.
Exercise that is intense enough to increase the heartrate and induce heavy breathing can increase the hormone epinephrine in the blood. A 2017 article by researcher Christine Dethlefson and colleagues in the journal Cancer Research reported that this elevated level of epinephrine in the blood of breast cancer patients after one intense exercise session stopped their breast cancer cells from growing in vitro and reduced tumor growth by half.
Senior author Pernille Hojman told Reuters that while exercise could not be expected to replace anti-cancer treatments, it is a great supportive strategy that has the added benefits of increasing patients’ quality of life and sense of empowerment.
The study looked at human breast cancer tumor cells in test tubes, and the same type of tumor cells implanted into mice. Only 45 percent of the mice implanted with the cancer cells collected after vigorous exercise developed tumors, compared to 90 percent of the mice who received cancer cells collected before exercise or with no exercise.
