Being physically fit can reward you in some ways. A recent study has found that good cardiorespiratory health in men can reduce the chance of developing nine forms of cancers, including lung, liver and rectal cancer.

It cuts down the chance from 5% to 42% in certain forms of cancers, in response to a research paper published within the British Journal of Sports Medicine

Cardiorespiratory fitness is defined as the flexibility to perform different aerobic exercises corresponding to running, cycling and swimming for an prolonged duration.

For the study, the team evaluated the cardiorespiratory fitness of around a million young men in Sweden by asking them to ride a stationary bike. Initially, the participants rode the bike at a low resistance level for five minutes after which regularly raised it to 25 watts per minute until they reached a degree of exhaustion and will not proceed any longer. Based on the tests, the participants were categorized into low, moderate and high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness.

During a mean monitoring period of 33 years, 84,117 participants (around 7%) developed cancer in not less than one a part of their body.

The speed of risk reduction in participants with high levels of fitness was maximum within the case of lung cancer (42%), followed by liver cancer (40%). With good cardiorespiratory fitness, the chance of rectal cancer was reduced by 5%, pancreatic cancer by 12%, bowel cancer by 18%, head and neck cancer by 19%, kidney cancer by 20%, stomach cancer by 21% and food pipe cancer by 39%.

“A rise in fitness appears to be related to a lower risk of developing most of those cancers. But you haven’t got to succeed in the highest, elite athlete level to have a lower risk,” said Aron Onerup, a lead creator of the study.

Researchers imagine the outcomes of the large-scale study will help promote interventions aimed toward improving cardiorespiratory fitness in youth.

“From a public health perspective, you may see the type of risk reductions that you just might give you the option to realize if you happen to put public health efforts into facilitating physical activity and fitness within the population,” Onerup said.

Published by Medicaldaily.com