Vigorous activities can cut breast cancer risk in lean women: Study

Washington, October 31: Indulging in physically strenuous household work besides some hardcore exercise can cut the risk of developing breast cancerdefine by almost a third, a news study suggests.

However, the protective effect of strenuous workouts was obvious only in normal-weight (body-mass-index of 25 and under) postmenopausal women, leaving behind overweight or obese women.

Under the study, as many as 32,269 postmenopausal women were monitored for 11 years. Participants were required to fill in detailed questionnaires inquiring the level of physical activity.

While scrubbing floors, washing windows, running, aerobics and cycling on hills, and fast dancing were categorized as vigorous activities, light household works like washing clothes, vacuuming and light exercise including walking and light jogging, general gardening were considered non-vigorous activities.

Vigorous workouts managed to slash the risk of developing breast cancerdefine by 30 percent in normal weight woman. On the other hand, it appeared to have no protective effect on obese or overweight women. Surprisingly, postmenopausal overweight or obese women stood a 30 percent higher chance of developing breast cancer, researchers cautioned.

Explaining the basis of the findings, lead researcher, Dr. Michael Leitzmann from the National Cancer Institute at the US National Institutes of Health, said, “Possible mechanisms through which physical activity may protect against breast cancer that are independent of body mass include reduced exposure to growth factors, enhanced immune function and decreased chronic inflammation œ variables that are related to grater physical activity and to lower breast cancer risk.”

The findings of the study are published in the current issue of the journal ‘Breast Cancer Research’.

Body Mass Indexdefine, a measure of weight in relation to height, is calculated by dividing the individual’s body weight by the square of his height.

As a thumb rule, people with a BMI:
lower than 16.5 – severely underweight
between 20 and 25 œ normal healthy weight
between 25 and 30 œ overweight
between 30 and 40 – clinically obese people
above 40 – morbidly obese.

Source: http://www.themedguru.com