Home Science/Health Stay active to prevent prostate cancer

Stay active to prevent prostate cancer

By IANS

New York : Stay active as much as you can to prevent prostate cancer, a new study in the US suggests.

“If you have a desk job, do something physically active to counterbalance it,” said researchers at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), who studied more than 2,100 aerospace workers in the San Fernando Valley.

Many of the workers were exposed to radiation and chemicals that may have increased their risk for certain cancers.

The research team identified 362 men who developed prostate cancer and compared them to 1,805 men of similar age and socio-economic status who did not get prostate cancer.

The study done in conjunction with the Research Institute and the University of Michigan found that the men who developed prostate cancer were less likely to hold the more physically active jobs, Newswise wire reported.

Researchers also found that the men who developed prostate cancer were more likely to have a family history of the disease.

The findings were supported by other studies that suggested continuous physical activity, but not intermittent activity, is required to lower the risk of prostate cancer.

“The message from this study for today is that if you’re more active, you may be able to prevent this cancer from happening,” said Beate Ritz, a Jonsson Cancer Centre researcher and the study’s senior author.

The study has appeared in the February issue of the Cancer Causes Control journal.