Newswise — Dr. Anne McTiernan, a breast cancer epidemiologist and cancer prevention expert at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, is available to comment on a new meta-analysis regarding the link between physical activity and reduced cancer risk. The analysis, led by Dr. Steven Moore of the National Cancer Institute, was published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.

For the study, Moore and colleagues pooled data from 12 U.S. and European studies of self-reported physical activity involving 1.4 million participants. They found that higher levels of exercise were associated with substantially lower risks for 13 out of 26 types of cancers studied, many by more than 20 percent. And the benefit was much higher than that in some cases. For example, the risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma dropped by 42 percent in people who were active, and exercise cut the risk of liver and lung cancer by 27 and 26 percent, respectively.

The implications of these findings are significant, as physical inactivity is common, with an estimated 51 percent of people in the U.S. and 31 percent of people worldwide not meeting recommended aerobic activity levels.

“The aerobics can be brisk walking,” said McTiernan. “[There’s] no need to become an athlete.”

McTiernan is a member of the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutch, where cancer prevention is a major focus of research. While most people know the Hutch for pioneering bone marrow transplantation, it also houses the nation's oldest and largest cancer prevention research program.

McTiernan has led groundbreaking randomized clinical trials that have shown regular moderate aerobic exercise (such as brisk walking) significantly reduces the risk of breast cancer in women and colon cancer in men.

She can discuss a wide range of lifestyle issues and how they impact cancer risk, prevention and recurrence — from the dangers of hidden belly fat and yo-yo dieting to why it is so hard to lose weight, even when one exercises.