Observational studies suggest physical activity lowers breast cancer risk.
Aerobic exercise influences the way our bodies break down estrogens to produce more of the 'good' metabolites that lower breast cancer risk, according to a new research.
Observational studies suggest physical activity lowers breast cancer risk, but there are no clinical studies that explain the mechanism behind this, said Mindy S. Kurzer, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota in Saint Paul.
Kurzer and her colleagues conducted the Women in Steady Exercise Research (WISER) clinical trial, which involved 391 sedentary, healthy, young, premenopausal women. They randomly assigned the women to two age-matched, body mass index-matched groups: a control group of 179 women and an intervention group of 212 women.
While women in the control group continued a sedentary lifestyle for the entire study period, women in the intervention group performed 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise five times a week for 16 weeks. Aerobic exercises included the treadmill, stair stepper or elliptical machine.
Using a state-of-the-art technique called liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectroscopy, they measured the amount of three parent estrogens, E1, E2 and E3, and nine of their breakdown products called metabolites, in the participants` urine samples.
According to Kurzer, estrogen metabolism favoring the production of a metabolite called 2-hydroxyestrone (2-OHE1) over one called 16alpha-hydroxyestrone (16alpha-OHE1), which results in an increase in the 2-OHE1/16alpha-OHE1 ratio, has been linked with a reduction in breast cancer risk.
She and her colleagues found that aerobic exercise led to an increase in the amount of 2-OHE1 and a decrease in the amount of 16alpha-OHE1, which led to a significant increase in the 2-OHE1/16alpha-OHE1 ratio. There were no changes in the 2-OHE1/16alpha-OHE1 ratio in the urine of control group participants.
“Exercise, known to favor fitness and improve heart health, is also likely to help prevent breast cancer by altering estrogen metabolism,” said Kurzer.
In collaboration with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Kurzer is conducting similar studies in women with a high risk for breast cancer.
The study results were published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
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