A team of researchers from Washington University in St.Louis and Harvard University has recently found that women who walk at least two hours a week are less likely to get colon cancer than those who don’t exercise regularly. The study was published in International Journal of Cancer. “We looked at women who only participated in walking and found that walking was sufficient to reduce risk of colon cancer,” says study co-author Kathleen Wolin, M.D., an assistant professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Colon cancer is the third most common cancer in both men and women. The researchers analyzed information from the Women’s Health Study to evaluate the benefits of walking. That study involves some 80,000 women ages 40 to 65, whose health is being monitored over many years’ time.
Wolin says it’s not yet clear how walking lowers colon cancer risk. It may reduce insulin resistance or alter hormone levels. Physical activity may also reduce inflammation throughout the body or reduce the time it takes for food, which may contain potential carcinogens, to pass through the intestines, she adds.
