Obesity and exercise may affect bowel cancer risk

People who are obese could be at a higher risk of developing a certain type of bowel cancer while exercise lowers the risk, a study suggests.

Researchers in the US analysed data from thousands of men and women to determine if there was a link between weight, exercise and the risk for CTNNB1-positive or CTNNB1-negative bowel, or colorectal cancer.

A higher body mass index (BMI) was linked to an increased risk of CTNNB1-negative colorectal cancer, while physical activity was associated with a lower risk.

Both BMI and physical activity had no effect on the risk for CTNNB1-positive colorectal cancer, according to the research pubished in the journal Cancer Research.

Dr. Shuji Ogino, an associate professor of pathology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and an associate professor in the department of epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health, said the results provided further evidence for a causal role of obesity and a physically inactive lifestyle in this specific type of bowel cancer.

Read More -  http://www.spirehealthcare.com/Patient-Information/Health-News/Cancer/801547587-Obesity-and-exercise-may-affect-bowel-cancer-risk/

Exercise tied to better colon cancer survival odds

People with colon cancer who spend more time walking and fewer hours on the couch are less likely to die over the seven to eight years after being diagnosed, a new study suggests.

The findings don't prove exercise itself boosts a person's survival chances, researchers said. But the pattern held even after the study team took into account how advanced patients' cancers were, their age and other aspects of their diet, lifestyle and health.


"Any activity is better than none," including walking, stretching and gardening, said Peter Campbell, the lead researcher on the study from the American Cancer Society.

"Five to ten minutes at a time is fine, and the type of activity we're talking about here, this isn't marathon running or climbing the Alps."

Campbell's analysis included about 2,300 people who developed colon cancer out of an initial pool of 184,000 volunteers in a cancer prevention and nutrition study launched in 1992.

Over an average of eight years after their diagnosis, 846 people with colon cancer died - including 379 from cancer.

The researchers found that study participants who exercised the most - equal to two and half hours of walking per week or more - both before and after being diagnosed were 28 to 42 percent less likely to die during the follow-up period than those who barely exercised at all.

Read more - http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/01/24/us-colon-cancer-idUKBRE90N11L20130124