Recreational activity can reduce risk of developing breast cancer

New York, Dec 14: Getting plenty of recreational activity may reduce women's risk of developing breast cancer after menopause, and exercise appears to have the most powerful preventive effect on the most aggressive type of tumor.

In a study, women who reported the highest level of recreational activity were less likely to develop breast cancer than the least active women, Dr Aditya Bardia of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota and colleagues found.

In addition, women who exercised were less likely to develop breast tumors that carried estrogen receptors but no receptors for progesterone. This type of tumor is generally more aggressive than those with other receptor configurations, Bardia's team notes in a report Archives of Internal Medicine.

Previous research on exercise and breast cancer risk has had mixed results, which may be because exercise may have different effects on the risk of developing different tumor types, the researchers note.

To investigate, the researchers looked at 36,363 women participating in the Iowa Women's Health Study. During the 18-year follow-up period, 2,548 cases of breast cancer occurred.

Tumors carrying both estrogen and progesterone receptors were most common, representing 71.1 per cent of the breast cancer cases, followed by tumors with estrogen receptors but no progesterone receptors (13.5 per cent), tumors with neither type of receptor (13.1 per cent), or tumors with progesterone receptors only (2.3 per cent).

Overall, the researchers found, the most active women had a 14 percent lower risk of breast cancer, while their risk of developing tumors carrying estrogen receptors only was 33 percent lower.

If other studies confirm this hypothesis, they add, ''Physical activity would have a substantial public health effect on the prevention of this disease, along with its other positive health benefits.''

Reuters