Lifelong Exercise May Cut Breast Cancer Risk
Mon Sep 30, 2002  By Peggy Peck 

ORLANDO (Reuters Health) - Even moderate physical activity--for example brisk walking for at least 2 miles three times a week--over the course of a lifetime can reduce a young woman's risk of developing breast cancer by 33%, and the risk of breast cancer after menopause by 26%, according to results of a study of women living in the San Francisco Bay area. 

Dr. Esther M. John, an epidemiologist at the Northern California Cancer Center in Union City, California, told Reuters Health that the study confirms earlier reports that "exercise can reduce the risk for breast cancer." 

But, she added, "this study also points out two important factors: it is total physical activity over the course of a lifetime that confers a benefit, and this activity is not limited to vigorous exercise. Even moderate activity has real benefits." 

John and colleagues based their findings on interviews with 1,249 women aged 35 to 79 who were newly diagnosed with breast cancer between 1995 and 1998, and 1,547 similar women who were cancer-free. 

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