Study: Maintaining fitness earlier in life can dramatically reduce cancer risk

A recent study released on Tuesday, August 15, proposes that maintaining a healthy weight can substantially diminish the likelihood of cancer development. The research, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, indicates that men who exhibit elevated levels of cardiorespiratory fitness during their 20s and 30s experience a reduced risk of encountering nine distinct types of cancer.

While this isn’t the first time such a link has been suggested—prior investigations have correlated exercise with a decreased risk of various cancers—there remains a dearth of comprehensive and long-term cohort studies encompassing different cancer types.

The study involved tracking over a million young Swedish males for an average period of 33 years, commencing with their participation in a military fitness assessment, a practice that persisted until 2010. Subsequently, the researchers scrutinized the men’s cancer diagnoses and correlated them with the levels of fitness documented during the military fitness evaluations.

The researchers assessed the participants’ capacity to engage in sustained aerobic activities such as running, cycling, and swimming. Subsequently, the individuals were categorized into groups denoting low, moderate, and high cardiorespiratory fitness levels, reflective of how effectively their circulatory and respiratory systems deliver oxygen to their muscles, as determined by the outcomes of the cycling test.

In contrast to the group with lower fitness levels, the findings indicated that individuals with heightened exercise capacity faced a 19% diminished risk of head and neck cancer, along with a 20% reduced risk of kidney cancer. Moreover, the risk of lung cancer was 42% lower, while the likelihood of liver cancer was lowered by 40%.

Lead author of the study, Dr. Aron Onerup, a postdoctoral researcher in the pediatrics department at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, noted that the overall cancer risk continued to decline with increasing fitness levels among participants. He emphasized that achieving elite athlete status wasn’t necessary to attain a lowered risk, stating that “An increase in fitness seems to be associated with a lower risk of developing most of these cancers.”