Intense aerobic exercise helps reduce the risk of metastatic cancer by 72%, according to a new study from researchers at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine of Tel Aviv University (TAU).
The results of the study headed by Carmit Levy, professor at the Department of Human Genetics and Biochemistry, and Dr. Yftach Gepner, of the School of Public Health and the Sylvan Adams Sports Institute, were published last month in the journal Cancer Research.
The researchers found that intense aerobic exercise increases the ability of internal organs to consume glucose — or sugar. As a result, tumors are starved of typically available levels of energy.
While exercise is already known to produce substantial benefits, including reducing the risk of some types of cancer by 35% or helping manage conditions like diabetes, this study gives more insight into the power of high-intensity aerobics.
“In this study, we added new insight, showing that high-intensity aerobic exercise, which derives its energy from sugar, can reduce the risk of metastatic cancer by as much as 72%,” claimed Prof. Levy and Dr. Gepner, discussing their work with Neuroscience News.
The study also helped shed light on the mechanisms that drive the positive results witnessed with physical exertion.
“If so far the general message to the public has been ‘be active, be healthy,’ now we can explain how aerobic activity can maximize the prevention of the most aggressive and metastatic types of cancer,” according to the lead researchers.
The team analyzed both rodent and human subjects. With respect to human participants, data was pulled before and after the healthy subjects went running. The dataset contained research from a prior epidemiological study that analyzed 3,000 people for roughly two decades.
The authors found that metastatic cancers were nearly three-quarters less prevalent in people who reported engaging in high-intensity aerobics versus those who reported none.
The mice subjected to the test showed similar results. After being injected with cancer, the internal organs of the rodents were tested before and after physical activity. Metastatic tumor development was found to be substantially suppressed due to exercise.
“Our study is the first to investigate the impact of exercise on the internal organs in which metastases usually develop, like the lungs, liver, and lymph nodes,” said Prof. Levy.
The researchers suspect the boost in glucose consumption that occurs with intense movement plays a role in suppressing the proliferation of cancerous cells.
“Examining the cells of these organs, we found a rise in the number of glucose receptors during high-intensity aerobic activity — increasing glucose intake and turning the organs into effective energy-consumption machines, very much like the muscles,” according to Prof. Levy.
It is understood that different body parts, like organs and muscles, compete for glucose. Since intense exercise requires it, its availability becomes scarce, limiting available energy for tumors.
Not only that, regular exercise appears to permanently alter internal organs in a way that makes them similar to muscle tissue. This increases protection against tumors spreading.
“Our study, examining the internal organs, discovered that exercise changes the whole body so that the cancer cannot spread, and the primary tumor also shrinks in size,” according to Prof. Levy.
Dr. Gepner stressed the importance of the type of physical activity. While fat-burning physical activity typically requires 65-70% of the maximum heart rate, sugar-burning needs 80-85%.
Intense aerobics may be the single best tool in the fight against cancer. According to Dr. Gepner, “It must be emphasized that physical exercise, with its unique metabolic and physiological effects, exhibits a higher level of cancer prevention than any medication or medical intervention to date.”
In addition, sustained physical activity helps fight obesity, one of the largest health problems in the nation, as The Dallas Express has noted previously. Committing to a routine of intense aerobics could prove to be a valuable weapon in the fight against both cancer and obesity.
