High-intensity aerobic exercise can reduce the risk of metastatic cancer by 72%
Intensive aerobic activities such as running block cancer progression, reducing the risk of metastasis spreading by 72%. This type of exercise causes an increase in the consumption of glucose by the internal organs, decreasing the source of energy that the cancer needs to grow. These are the unequivocal results of a study conducted under the direction of Prof. Carmit Levy from the Department of Human Genetics and Biochemistry at Tel Aviv University Faculty of Medicine and Dr. Yiftach Gepner from the University’s School of Public Health and Sports Institute.
The study was published in the prestigious journal Cancer Research.
“We know that physical activity prevents the development of certain types of cancer by up to 35%, similar to its effect on other diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes. The contribution of our study is to show that physical activity that takes its source of energy from sugar, such as high-intensity aerobic exercise, manages to reduce the risk of metastatic cancer by 72%”, explained Prof. Lévy and Dr. Gepner. “If until now people were advised to be active to be in better health, we now know what activity, and at what intensity, will optimize the chances of preventing the most violent and metastatic types of cancer” , they said.
To carry out this study, researchers at Tel Aviv University used both epidemiological data, collected during a study conducted for nearly 20 years on 3,000 originally healthy people, and laboratory mice. .