Exercise boosts survival rates in colon cancer patients, study shows

A three-year exercise scheme improved survival in colon cancer patients and kept ailment at bay a first-of-its-kind international experiment proved With the benefits rivaling chosen drugs experts explained cancer centers and insurance plans should consider making exercise coaching a new standard of care for colon cancer survivors Until then patients can increase their physical activity after cure knowing they are doing their part to prevent cancer from coming back It s an extremely exciting scrutiny revealed Dr Jeffrey Meyerhardt of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who wasn t involved in the research It s the first randomized controlled trial to show a reduction in cancer recurrences and improved survival linked to exercise Meyerhardt mentioned Prior evidence was based on comparing progressing people with sedentary people a type of analysis that can t prove cause and effect The new evaluation conducted in Canada Australia the United Kingdom Israel and the United States compared people who were randomly selected for an exercise scheme with those who instead received an educational booklet This is about as high a quality of evidence as you can get disclosed Dr Julie Gralow chief anatomical officer of the American Society of Clinical Oncology I love this examination because it s something I ve been promoting but with less strong evidence for a long time The findings were featured Sunday at ASCO s annual meeting in Chicago and published by the New England Journal of Medicine Academic research groups in Canada Australia and the U K funded the work Researchers followed patients with treatable colon cancer who had completed chemotherapy Half were given information promoting fitness and nutrition The others worked with a coach meeting every two weeks for a year then monthly for the next two years Coaches helped participants find strategies to increase their physical activity Plenty of people including Terri Swain-Collins chose to walk for about minutes several times a week This is something I could do for myself to make me feel better noted Swain-Collins of Kingston Ontario Regular contact with a friendly coach kept her motivated and accountable she disclosed I wouldn t want to go there and say I didn t do anything so I was perpetually doing stuff and making sure I got it done After eight years the people in the structured exercise effort not only became more proceeding than those in the control group but also had fewer cancers and fewer deaths from any cause There were more muscle strains and other similar problems in the exercise group When we saw the results we were just astounded announced evaluation co-author Dr Christopher Booth a cancer expert at Kingston Fitness Sciences Centre in Kingston Ontario Exercise programs can be offered for several thousand dollars per individual Booth revealed a remarkably affordable intervention that will make people feel better have fewer cancer recurrences and help them live longer Researchers collected blood from participants and will look for clues tying exercise to cancer prevention whether through insulin processing or building up the immune system or something else Swain-Collins coaching initiative ended but she is still exercising She listens to music while she walks in the countryside near her home Related Articles Curative aid-in-dying group sues Colorado over state law s residency requirement Denver rejects million asphalt contract with Suncor because of refinery s toxicity Black neighborhood in Denver rallied to share flu shot experiences The Trump administration stopped the assessment Fights persist over oil and gas drilling near Front Range homes six years after transformation law changed permitting For various in Denver s Vietnamese public the fall of Saigon years ago brought a new beginning That kind of behavior change can be achieved when people believe in the benefits when they find procedures to make it fun and when there s a social component explained paper co-author Kerry Courneya who studies exercise and cancer at the University of Alberta The new evidence will give cancer patients a reason to stay motivated Now we can say definitively exercise causes improvements in survival Courneya stated The Associated Press Wellness and Science Department receives backing from the Howard Hughes Biological Institute s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The AP is solely responsible for all content Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get healthcare news sent straight to your inbox