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Active lifestyle aids kidneys, colon cancer survivors

Last Updated: 2009-12-14 16:01:09 -0400 (Reuters Health)

December 15, 2009

By Megan Brooks

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - You may know this already, but here's more proof: Leading a physically active life yields multiple health dividends, according to four studies published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

One study suggests that physical activity may help keep the kidneys of older adults in tip top shape, while another hints that a combination of a healthy waist size, not smoking, and aerobic fitness protects against heart disease and premature death.

A third study provides some of the first evidence that colon cancer patients who are physical active lower their odds of having their cancer recur. While being physical active is known to help prevent the development of colon cancer, few studies have determined its effect on colon cancer survivors.

The fourth paper suggests that people who cut back on time spent watching television are apt to take part in more active heart-healthy pursuits.

In a commentary published with the research, Dr. Janet E. Fulton, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, and co-authors say, "Each of these four studies makes a unique and valuable contribution to the evidence relating physical activity to health and provides additional data showing that physical activity is important for many facets of health."

"Taken together, these studies show that a relatively small investment in a physically active lifestyle yields a large return on health," they conclude.

TURN OFF THE TV

The study by Dr. Jennifer J. Otten, of Stanford University, Palo Alto, California and colleagues at the University of Vermont, Burlington hints that sometimes all it takes are small behavior changes. They found, among 36 overweight and obese adults, that those who reduced their weekly TV time by half burned more calories than those who made no changes to their TV time.

At the outset, the study participants reported watching at least 3 hours of TV daily. Twenty used an electronic lock-out device that shut off the TV after they had reached a weekly limit of 50 percent of their previously measured TV viewing time, while the remaining 16 participants, serving as the "control" group, made no changes. All of them wore armbands that measured physical activity. None of them were told to change their eating habits or lifestyle.

Otten's team found that those with the lock-out systems burned nearly 120 more calories per day during the 3-week study period. "One hundred twenty calories a day may not sound very big. But, day after day for a year, this would amount to a little over 12 pounds," Otten noted in an email to Reuters Health.

By comparison, the control group burned 95 fewer calories each day during the study period than during the observation period.

"Because the intervention was short (3 weeks) we were not expecting to see weight loss per se and we did not see a statistically significant amount, but it appeared to be going in the right direction," Otten added.

Reducing TV time, she and colleagues conclude, should be explored as a means to preventing obesity in adults. "The average US adult watches almost 5 hours of TV per day," Otten noted. "When you consider that watching TV is equivalent to sleep in terms of calorie burn, that's a lot of time spent sedentary!" she wrote.

BE ACTIVE AFTER COLON CANCER

In the colon cancer study, Boston-based researchers led by Dr. Jeffrey A. Meyerhardt of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute found that leading an active life after cancer diagnosis is also important.

In their paper, they report on 661 men diagnosed with colorectal cancer between 1986 and 2004. During long-term follow up, 258 men died -- 88 from colorectal cancer.

Men who were physically active after diagnosis of colorectal cancer, the study team found, experienced a significantly decreased risk of dying from colorectal cancer or any cause during follow up.

The more physically active, the greater the protection. Men with the highest activity levels (equal to brisk walking about 12.3 hours per week), relative to those with the lowest, had a 53 percent lower rate of death from colorectal cancer and a 41 percent lower rate of death overall during the study.

In their commentary, Fulton and co-authors say these four studies add to an "ever-growing body of scientific evidence to support a physically active lifestyle as important for health."

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, December 14/28, 2009.

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