Exercise Reduces Breast Cancer Risk

Exercise can sometimes be a miracle worker. Not only can it help you lose weight and help prevent heart disease, it can also lessen arthritis symptoms and improve memory loss. It can boost your mood and your sex life and, most important, even help with cancer prevention. As Breast Cancer Awareness Month draws to a close this week, it's important to mention just how much exercise can lower your risk for this deadly disease.

A recent review of 954 studies sponsored by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research found that exercise, healthy eating and keeping weight under control can help prevent nearly 40 percent of breast cancer cases in the United States.

The study notes that exercise, in particular, may help reduce breast cancer risk not only by strengthening the immune system but also positively affecting hormones in postmenopausal women and helping with weight loss. Being overweight puts you at an increased risk for developing breast cancer because fatty tissue produces hormones and growth factors, such as estrogen and insulin, which may promote cancer development. Recommendations for exercise, which are echoed by the American Cancer Society, include being physically active for 30 minutes a day.

In addition to this massive review, a study published in the Journal of Breast Cancer Research followed 30,000 women for 11 years and found that lean women who worked out vigorously several times a week were 30 percent less likely to develop breast cancer compared to women who were sedentary.

Perhaps one of the most significant studies to come out this year showed the most important decades for breast cancer prevention are the 30s and 40s. Published in the American College of Sports Medicine earlier in 2009, the study reported that women between 30 and 50 years old who exercised 60 minutes per week significantly decreased their chances of developing breast cancer compared to those younger and older.

"The take home message is that accumulating greater physical activity after the age of 30 may play a role in reducing the risk of developing breast cancer," Lisa K. Sprod, author of the ACSM study and research assistant professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center, told Reuters Health.

Did you know even doing housework can reduce your risk for breast cancer? For more ways to reduce your risk, check out AOL Health.