Signing your teen daughters up for a local gym doesn't just make fitness sense it could help them avoid breast cancer later in life. The earlier girls start to get involved with their fitness the better according to a new study.
"This really points to the benefit of sustained physical activity from adolescence through the adult years, to get the maximum benefit," said Dr. Graham Colditz of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the study's lead author.
Researchers tracked almost 65,000 nurses from the ages of 24 to 42 for a major health study. The test subjects answered detailed questionnaires about physical activity dating back to the age of 12. Within the six years of enrolling in this study 550 were diagnosed with premenopausal breast cancer which is typically much more aggressive. Of the women who were in the study 23 percent of those who were physically active as teenagers were less likely to develop early breast cancer as opposed to those who lead a sedentary life as teens.
The largest impact of preventing future breast cancer appears in those doing at least 13 hours of walking a week between the ages of 12 to 22.
The theory that researchers used to believe was that intense physical activity during these years reducing early breast cancer dealt with estrogen because periods tend to be delayed with young female athletes. This study challenges that idea because most of those who did physical activity during the teen years were not excessive about it which would have changed estrogen levels drastically although it could have made a slight enough change to effect the future health.
"I'd say you and your daughter are getting off the couch," Dr. Alpa Patel, a cancer prevention specialist at the American Cancer Society said. "Women who engage in physical activity not only during adolescence but during adulthood lower their risk."
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Getting Physical Early Can Reduce Your Chance Of Breast Cancer
