'Work It' to Reduce Breast Cancer Risks

Strong exercise of over two hours a week, reduces the risk of having breast cancer by 64%, in postmenopausal African-American women, compared to women who do not exercise, a new research carried out by researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, suggests.

“Four out of five African-American women are either overweight or obese, and disease control is a particularly important issue for them,” said lead researcher Vanessa Sheppard, PhD, a cancer control scientist and assistant professor in the department of oncology at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

For their study, the researchers identified 97 recently diagnosed African-American breast cancer patients in the Washington DC area and compared them with 102 African-American women without breast cancer.

The comparison was made according to the answers the participants gave when filling out a questionnaire about exercise routines.

After analysis, the survey concluded that women who exercised vigorously for more than two hours a week in the past year had a 64% reduced risk of breast cancer unlike those who did not exercise.

The scientists considered that vigorous exercise meant over two hours of aerobics, running or similar activity per week.

Also, women who made moderate exercise, like walking, had a 17% reduced cancer risk, compared to sedentary women.

After accounting for pre- and postmenopausal women, the results showed that energetic exercise only worked for postmenopausal African-American women, with a reduction in risk of 62%.

Sheppard said that she “was surprised that we did not find a significant effect in premenopausal women, but it may be because we need a larger sample.”

On the other hand, when considering a total physical activity – walking and vigorous exercise, the health benefits were significant for both premenopausal and postmenopausal women.

Dr Sheappard added that “people often want to know what they can do to reduce their risk of disease, and we have found that just two or more hours of vigorous activity per week can make a difference in one's risk of developing breast cancer.”

“We also know from other studies that being physically active can have benefits in other diseases that occur at high rates in African-American women, such as diabetes and hypertension,” she added.

A study on African-American women was absolutely necessary because breast cancer cases are different in this community, most women developing premenopausal breast cancer, unlike white women.

Also, more and more African-American women tend to develop the most aggressive form of the disease, known as triple-negative breast cancer.

Sheppard said that these findings” while promising, should be interpreted with caution, as this is a pilot study and a larger, more rigorous study is needed to precisely quantify the effect of exercise on development of breast cancer.

“I think it is fair to conclude that if African American women exercise they can help take charge of their health,” she added.

The results of the study were presented at the Third AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, September 30 to October 3rd, 2010.