How Exercise Reduces Your Risk of Cancer

By now, it is common knowledge that exercise reduces your risk of cancer in general, some types more than others.  But how?  With diet, it is much more obvious.  The layman knows of antioxidants, vitamins, and nutrients that our bodies need to stay healthy.  We all know that proper exercise is good for you, but exactly what biological mechanisms happen that reduce your risk of cancer?

Hormone Regulation and Balance

Hormones travel to every caveat in our bodies via the bloodstream.  They are what are known as "signaling molecules".  In other words, they, like DNA, communicates to the cells what to do.  There are dozens of hormones that help regulate different aspects of cellular behavior.  Two of note, are estrogen and insulin.

Estrogens are the primary female sex hormones.  Though often referred to as a singular, they are actually a group of compounds.  There are essentially two categories of estrogens: steroidal and non-steroidal.  As women age, their estrogen level tends to rise.  Excess levels of estrogen can contribute to the development of mutations, by sending too many signals for cells to replicate.  An overabundance of estrogen is especially thought to be a primary factor in breast and cancers of the female reproductive system.  Physical exercise helps to combat that by lowering the levels of estrogen in the blood.

Another hormonal culprit in the development of cancers is insulin.  This hormone is synthesized in the pancreas by its beta cells.  It is responsible for regulating the body's metabolism of both fats and carbohydrates.  The overconsumption of high glycemic foods in the Standard American Diet leads to frequent insulin spikes and valleys.  A chronic history of this sequence in the body can lead to insulin resistance, which the body will respond to by creating even more insulin.  Scientists believe insulin can send a signal to the body to multiply its cells.  Cancer occurs when this mechanism becomes out of control.  Frequent exercise helps to increase insulin sensitivity, so the pancreas does not have to produce as much to have the same effect.  This aids not only in the prevention of cancer, but also diabetes, which is the result of pancreatic malfunction.

  A representation of the structure of insulin.

Author: division, CSIRO, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Permission: http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/pages/about/

Maintaining Healthy Bowels

The more active you are on the outside, the more active you will be on the inside.  Frequent movement stimulates the bowels, helping to push digested food through the intestines.  Excrement contains concentrated human waste products, compounds that are toxic to the body, hence the will of it to process them out.  If movement is regular, it will reduce the amount of time your bowel linings are in contact with these toxic waste products.

If the bowels are in contact with these chemicals too long, inflammation will result.  Inflammation can lead to cells reproducing faster to replace the damaged ones.  This opens up the door for an increased risk of mutations.

Decreases Visceral Fat

Visceral, or subcutaneous fat, is fat that lies around and crowds your inner organs.  This is very inflammatory on two fronts.  First, visceral fat often contains toxins due to absorption before the body could process it out.  Second, the crowding of the organs puts strain on them, not allowing them to function to optimal capacity.  This is especially true of the liver.  In many cancer patients the liver is fatty, a result of an excess of subcutaneous fat.  Reduction of visceral fat will greatly reduce your risk of cancer.