• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

  • Fitness
  • Workouts
    • Best Shoulder Workouts
    • Best Chest Workouts
    • Best Leg Workouts
    • Best Leg Exercises
    • Best Biceps Exercises
    • Best Kettlebell Exercises
    • Best Back Workouts
    • Best HIIT Workouts
    • Best Triceps Exercises
    • Best Arm Workouts
  • Reviews
    • Supplements
      • Best Pre-Workouts
      • Best Whey Protein
    • Equipment
      • Best Home Gym Machines
    • Certifications
      • ISSA Review
  • News
  • Exercise Guides
    • Legs
      • Back Squat
      • Bulgarian Split Squat
      • Goblet Squat
      • Zercher Squat
      • Standing Calf Raise
      • Hack Squat
    • Chest
      • Bench Press
      • Dumbbell Bench Press
      • Close-Grip Bench Press
      • Incline Bench Press
    • Shoulders
      • Overhead Dumbbell Press
      • Lateral Raise
    • Arms
      • Chin-Up
      • Weighted Pull-Up
      • Triceps Pushdown
    • Back
      • Deadlift
      • Trap Bar Deadlift
      • Lat Pulldown
      • Inverted Row
      • Bent-Over Barbell Row
      • Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
      • Pendlay Row
Fitness

Exercise Reduces Growth of Prostate Cancer

Studies have linked cancer growth to the hormonal effects of exercise. But what happens when you expose prostate cancer cells to complete post-exercise blood samples, and not just isolated hormones?

Doug Dupont

Written by Doug Dupont Last updated on July 31, 2013

One of the major goals of exercise is to improve health. However, often enough the potential for harm from exercise is put into question, and sometimes for good reason. Be it the link between cycling and decreased bone density, the effects of ultra-endurance events on the brain, the burst of free radicals produced by exercise, or any number of other theorized or known health concerns, the questions are in place for good reason. One such question is how exercise affects cancer cell growth.

It’s no surprise that exercise is theorized to exacerbate cancer. Hormones associated with tissue growth, like growth hormone, IGF-1, insulin, and leptin, have been shown to be associated with higher cancer risk and the progression of existing cancer. In a recent study in PLoS ONE, researchers examined the interplay between exercise, hormones, and prostate cancer, which has been one of the most discussed types of cancer in recent literature.

The researchers noted that long-term exercise was associated with reduced risk of cancer. These effects are related in part to the long-term hormonal response to exercise. Much like your heart rate response to cardiovascular exercise, over time your circulating hormones tend to decrease in response to exercise. In the long term, you’ll have less of these hormones in total. If you’re an avid exerciser, your overall hormone state is more inhospitable to prostate cancer, so your risk goes down.

However, the researchers in this study were more interested in the effects of acute exercise on hormones, rather than long-term exercise. The acute effects of exercise are quite different from the long-term effects. That is to say, when we exercise, the hormones supporting tissue growth come out in full force. For an athlete, the increase in hormones is usually a good thing, since it signals the repair and growth of damaged muscles. But for cancer cells this means growth too, and that’s a bad thing.

The researchers didn’t just expose cancer cells to these hormones, because they already knew what would happen in isolation: the cells would grow. Instead, they took blood from individuals at rest and those who had just exercised and exposed the cancer cells to the blood serum samples. This means they exposed the cancer cells to a much broader range of blood contents than just a few isolated hormones. They effectively exposed them to the state of the body post-exercise.

The results of the study were eye-opening. The serum of nine out of ten participants who had exercised actually inhibited cancer growth. Despite the increase in tissue-growing hormones, the cancer’s growth was slowed. When pooling the samples, the exercise serum resulted in a 31% inhibition to the growth of cancer. When injected into mice, the serum caused a delay in tumor formation.

Although some of the more potent hormonal outcomes of exercise, like growth hormone and IGF-1, may support cancer growth in isolation, this study shows they don’t have the same effect when considered as a part of the whole post-exercise state. As it turns out, even acute exercise seems to be beneficial, at least at slowing the rate of existing cancer. The researchers concluded that this study dissuades fear of the effects of exercise on prostate cancer.

References:

1. Helene Rundqvist, et. al., “Effect of Acute Exercise on Prostate Cancer Cell Growth,” PLoS ONE 8(7), 2013.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Doug Dupont

About Doug Dupont

Having grown up at the foot of a forest covered mountain in rural Vermont, Doug was active from a very young age. Hiking, running, and climbing were a part of everyday life in the Green Mountains. This culture of exercise led to dabbling in martial arts as a teen, and also getting work in a local powerlifting focused gym. Doug continued to pursue knowledge and training in exercise, becoming a certified personal trainer while still a teenager. Once in college he began his hand at the business side of fitness, taking a management position at a large local gym. During that time he became a founding member of the UVM Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club, and was the first among their competition team. After only a few months he was assisting in coaching, and ran conditioning program for the club.

Out of college Doug set up his own training center. He grew his list of clientele including several professional MMA athletes, eventually going so far as to corner a world title fight. He has continued ­­­to develop his business into today.

View All Articles

Recommended Articles

kristin4
Real Functional Fitness: CrossFit and the Battle Against Cancer
cheryl stoppiello, breast cancer, crossfit and cancer, fighting breast cancer
The Strength to Survive: Cancer’s Nothin’ – I Do CrossFit
big sky yoga retreats, cowgirls vs cancer, yoga for cancer, breast cancer
Yeehaw and Namaste: Cowgirl Yoga for Breast Cancer Survivors
breast cancer, women's fitness, women's health, breast cancer risk
Exercise Reduces Risk of Breast Cancer

Primary Sidebar

Latest Articles

Derek Lunsford, Nick Walker, And Other Men’s Open Stars Will Guest Pose at 2023 Pittsburgh Pro

Shaun Clarida Wants To Break Flex Lewis’ 212 Olympia Title Record

The Best Bodybuilding Workout for Each Body Part

Jay Cutler Shares How To Construct An “Olympia” Chest

Latest Reviews

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

Best Whey Proteins for Packing on Muscle, Shredding Down, Meal Replacement, and More

Best Pre-Workouts for Building Muscle, Running, Taste, and More

Best Home Gym Machines

Best Home Gym Machines

woman lifting barbell

Be the smartest person in your gym

The Breaking Muscle newsletter is everything you need to know about strength in a 3 minute read.

I WANT IN!

Breaking Muscle is the fitness world’s preeminent destination for timely, high-quality information on exercise, fitness, health, and nutrition. Our audience encompasses the entire spectrum of the fitness community: consumers, aficionados, fitness professionals, and business owners. We seek to inform, educate and advocate for this community.

  • Reviews
  • Healthy Eating
  • Workouts
  • Fitness
  • News

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed

© 2023 · Breaking Muscle · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Affiliate Disclaimer · Accessibility · About