HHS HealthBeat (July 11, 2006)

Is it the exercise?

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

Exercise seems to do some good against breast cancer. But it’s hard to tell why.

Researcher Jennifer Eng-Wong of the National Cancer Institute in the National Institutes of Health is among those trying to find out.

Eng-Wong is seeing if exercise changes a woman’s body in ways that reduce risk. An example: Whether exercise decreases levels of certain hormones that are higher in women with some forms of breast cancer.

"There are a lot of studies of the population that show that women who regularly exercise already have a decreased risk for breast cancer. But we don’t really understand how that occurs. And that’s one of our goals of this study." (11 seconds)

So Eng-Wong is looking for healthy women volunteers. Some will walk, others will stretch. She’ll look for differences with each exercise.

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: August, 15 2006