If you’re worried about prostate cancer, take note: a new study has found a link between inactivity and increased prostate cancer.
Beyond genetics
A team of researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Bristol used a new method of assessing prostate cancer risk factors to determine how exercise affects your chances of developing the disease.
Using Mendelian randomization, the scientists analyzed genetics to determine the causal relationship between prostate cancer and various potential risk factors. They found that men with a genetic variation that raised their likelihood of exercising or doing other forms of physical activity had a 51% decreased risk of prostate cancer than men without the genetic variation.
“This study is the largest ever of its kind, which uses a relatively new method that complements current observational research to discover what causes prostate cancer,” says the study’s co-author, Sarah Lewis, Ph.D. “It suggests that there could be a larger effect of physical activity on prostate cancer than previously thought, so will hopefully encourage men to be more active.”
Of the 22 risk factors for prostate cancer that the study reviewed, physical activity was the most “striking,” according to the researchers.
Prostate cancer among American men
According to the National Cancer Institute, of all the cancers, prostate cancer is the second most common among men around the globe, after skin cancer.
In the United States, nearly 175,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed by the end of 2019.
In addition to physical activity, other factors—both controllable and nonmodifiable—including family history, obesity, age and the levels of calcium, folic acid and vitamin E in your body. Black men also carry a greater risk of prostate cancer than other races and black men are more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer that is advanced or more aggressive.
