Apples for Health- Studying exercise and breast cancer

Studying exercise and breast cancer

PHILADELPHIA, April 6 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers seek to determine if women can reduce breast cancer risk via regular workouts.

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers are building on evidence that reducing estrogen in the body reduces cancer risk and that estrogen levels drop in elite female athletes. The researchers are testing two levels of regular treadmill exercise as a possible intervention for breast cancer risk reduction.

The team will be enrolling 160 women ages 18-40 with an elevated risk of breast cancer based on family history. While those whose risk is raised by carrying the genetic BRCA mutation are included among eligible women, participants won't be required to undergo genetic testing.

Previous research shows that prophylactic breast and ovary removal dramatically slashes BRCA carriers' cancer risks but the researchers say these surgeries raise quality-of-life concerns.

"The decision to have these surgeries is so difficult that many women delay them, sometimes with terrible consequences," study leaders Kathryn Schmitz and Dr. Susan Domchek said in a statement.

"We would like to find out if exercise could buy high-risk women time they need to more safely think through their options."

The investigators plan to use their findings to offer effective exercise guidelines for high-risk women.