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Exercise Cuts Breast Cancer Risk By 40%: Canada Study

An Alberta Cancer Board/University of Calgary research team released a study Monday that shows the risk of breast cancer is reduced by 40% if women exercise daily, especially later in life.

The research findings of the Alberta team, led by Dr. Christine Friedenreich, appear in the November edition of the international journal Epidemiology.

“This study is great news for women who, so far in their lives, have not been physically active. Our data shows it’s never too late to start –- and once you do, your risk of breast cancer plummets by 40%,” says Dr. Christine Friedenreich, epidemiologist and research scientist at Alberta Cancer Board/University of Calgary. “For those who have been active throughout their lives, their risk of breast cancer is reduced by 42%.”

The three-year study involved 2,478 Alberta women. Friedenreich’s team, which included investigators from the University of Alberta, measured the participants’ lifetime of physical activities using an interview-administered questionnaire. That questionnaire documents all types of activity, including occupational, household and recreational activity, and measures the frequency, duration and intensity of activities.

“This study is the first in the world to measure all types of physical activity throughout a woman’s life and determine when in life being physically active is most important,” says Dr. Jean-Michel Turc, president and chief executive officer, Alberta Cancer Board. “This is important new information that will help us boost our ongoing efforts to prevent breast cancer.”

The study shows that women who were inactive before menopause who became active after menopause had their risk of breast cancer reduced by 40%. The research also finds that although being physically fit throughout life greatly reduces the risk of breast cancer, women’s physical activities after menopause have the most benefit.

“There are so few known modifiable risk factors proven to reduce breast cancer,” says Dr. Marilyn Schneider, executive director, Canadian Breast Cancer Research Initiative. “This information will help women everywhere take control of their own health and make choices about reducing the risk of cancer.”

This research is supported by the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Initiative, the Alberta Cancer Board, Health Canada, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. - By Karen Thomas

[Contact: Karen Thomas]

16-Oct-2001

 

 

 

 

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