Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the United States today. Researchers have come up with new information about certain cancers that you should be aware of in your pursuit to be cancer free.
Fox news reports on the new information. One of the new pieces of information uncovered was the fact that sitting too much could be linked to breast cancer.
A new study shows that too much time spent sitting down, at places like work and during off hours, may elevate a women's threat of breast and endometrial cancer.
The study’s authors scrutinized information from more than 29,000 Swedish women ages 25 to 64 who did not have cancer at the beginning of the study. The women were studies for around two and a half decades.
How was the study conducted?
The study’s participants were divided into three groups: those who had a desk job (such as working in an office) and did not participant in recreational sports, those who had a sedentary job but did participate in sports (such as running and handball), and those who had physically active jobs that required more standing up (such as being a teacher) and also took part in recreational sports type activities.
What were the results?
The authors found that participants who were not active at their work or in their leisure time were 2.4 times more likely to be diagnosed with endometrial cancer (a cancer of the uterus lining), and also 2.4 times more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer before menopause, when compared with those participants who were active at their jobs and in their leisure time. There was no connection between inactivity and a heightened threat of breast cancer after menopause.
Anna Johnsson, one of the authors of the study and a physical therapist, commented saying,
“People who work in offices can do small things throughout the day to reduce their siting time, such as getting up for coffee or walking to work. The findings agree with previous studies that have found a link between inactivity and cancer risk.”
A study conducted in 2011 estimated that being inactive was connected to as many as 49,000 cases of breast cancer each year in the United States. (There are around 230,000 cases of breast cancer diagnosed yearly in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute.) Some studies have implied that taking short breaks throughout the day to move around decreases levels of molecules in the blood that are tied with the threat of cancer.
Fox news also reported on a new link with prostate cancer. The new study showed that men who are losing their hair due to male pattern baldness might be at a greater risk of getting prostate cancer.
How was this study conducted?
The experts analyzed information from more than 4,000 U.S. men ages 25 to 74, who were scrutinized by a dermatologist and categorized has having no balding, or minimal, moderate or severe balding. Men with any type of balding were 56 percent more likely to perish from prostate cancer. What was particularly startling was the fact that those patients with moderate balding were 83 percent more likely to die from prostate cancer, compared to those with no balding at all.
