healthy living
F TAY-SACHS
REE ISRAELI RESEARCHERS:
Aerobic Activity Can
Reduce Risk of Metastatic
Cancer by 72%
JE Staff
A Courtesy of Tel Aviv University
new study at Tel Aviv University
found that aerobic exercise can
reduce the risk of metastatic cancer
by 72%. According to the researchers,
intense aerobic exercise increases the
glucose (sugar) consumption of internal
organs, thereby reducing the availability
of energy to the tumor.

The study was led by researchers
from TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine:
Professor Carmit Levy from the
Department of Human Genetics and
Biochemistry and Dr. Yftach Gepner
from the School of Public Health and the
Sylvan Adams Sports Institute.

Levy said the study has led to an
important discovery that may help
prevent metastatic cancer, which is
the leading cause of death in Israel.

The paper was published in the journal
Cancer Research.

Levy and Gepner explained that
“studies have demonstrated that physi-
cal exercise reduces the risk for some
types of cancer by up to 35%. This
positive eff ect is similar to the impact
of exercise on other conditions, such
as heart disease and diabetes. In this
study, we added new insight, showing
that high-intensity aerobic exercise,
which derives its energy from sugar, can
reduce the risk of metastatic cancer by
as much as 72%. If so far as the general
message to the public has been ‘be
active, be healthy,’ now we can explain
how aerobic activity can maximize the
prevention of the most aggressive and
metastatic types of cancer.”
‘A rise in the number of glucose
receptors’ The study combined an animal model,
in which mice were trained under a
strict exercise regimen, with data from
healthy human volunteers examined
Dr. Yftach Gepner
before and after running. The human
data, obtained from an epidemiological
study that monitored 3,000 individuals
for about 20 years, indicated 72% less
metastatic cancer in participants who
reported regular aerobic activity at high
intensity, compared to those who did not
engage in physical exercise.

The animal model exhibited a similar
outcome, enabling the researchers to
identify its underlying mechanism.

Sampling the internal organs of the
physically fi t animals, before and after
physical exercise, and also following the
injection of cancer, they found that aerobic
activity signifi cantly reduced the develop-
ment of metastatic tumors in the lymph
nodes, lungs and liver. The researchers
hypothesized that in both humans and
model animals, this favorable outcome is
related to the enhanced rate of glucose
consumption induced by exercise.

Levy noted that “our study is the fi rst
to investigate the impact of exercise
on the internal organs in which metas-
tases usually develop, like the lungs,
liver and lymph nodes. Examining the
cells of these organs, we found a rise
in the number of glucose receptors
during high-intensity aerobic activity
& CANAVAN
SCREENING — increasing glucose intake and turning
the organs into eff ective energy-con-
sumption machines, very much like the
muscles. We assume that this happens
because the organs must compete
for sugar resources with the muscles,
known to burn large quantities of
glucose during physical exercise.”
Consequently, she continued, “if cancer
develops, the fi erce competition over
glucose reduces the availability of energy
that is critical to metastasis. Moreover,
when a person exercises regularly, this
condition becomes permanent: The
tissues of internal organs change and
become similar to muscle tissue.” ■
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