Daily HealthBeat Tip

Actively fighting cancer

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I�m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Regular physical activity seems to help people fight colon cancer. Two studies find that patients who were doing moderate levels of exercise six months to a year after completing therapy had about a 50 percent lower risk of cancer recurrence.

Jeffrey Meyerhardt of Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute reported the studies in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Meyerhardt looked at data on patients who had surgery and chemotherapy, and whose disease had not spread to other organs. His work was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Researchers believe exercise reduces the effect of some body chemicals that promote tumor growth.

Meyerhardt says activity could aid treatment, not replace it. But he says:

"The data we have now is supportive enough in patients that don�t have a contraindication to doing some physical activity to recommend as such." (eight seconds)

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I�m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: October 6, 2006

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