Walking And Exercise May Lower Prostate Cancer Risk

Men who regularly get moderate exercise may have a lower risk of developing prostate cancer. 

Researchers examined men who underwent biopsies for possible prostate cancer.  Those who exercised moderately, the equivalent of three to six hours of walking per week, were less likely to be diagnosed with the disease. 

The study found that compared with their sedentary counterparts, these men were two-thirds less likely to have a biopsy positive for prostate cancer. In addition, men who performed one to three hours of walking each week had an 86 percent lower chance of having an aggressive form of the cancer. 

According to the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance, some 745,000 men are diagnosed with cancer each week.  Prostate cancer is the leading cancer impacting men.  The study findings which appear in the current issue of the Journal of Urology do not prove that exercise helps prevent prostate cancer the researchers point out. But it could offer men another incentive to get active. 

A number of studies have looked at the relationship between exercise and prostate cancer, and while most have pointed to a protective effect, about one-third have found no association.  The medical experts found that among the 111 sedentary men in the study, half were diagnosed with cancer after biopsy. That compared with 27 percent of those men who got the equivalent of three to six hours of walking each week. 

And among men diagnosed with prostate cancer, 51 percent of sedentary patients had more-aggressive cancer, versus 22 percent of those who had been mildly active -- getting the equivalent of one to three hours of moderate walking per week.

Exercise itself remained linked to a lower risk of prostate cancer after the researchers accounted for a number of other factors, like age, weight and race.  Exercise has been shown to lower blood levels of testosterone and other hormones that may stimulate prostate tumor growth. Exercise is also believed to stimulate the immune system and the body's natural antioxidant mechanisms, both of which may help prevent the development of prostate cancer.