Cancer Experts Applaud New Report's Increased Exercise Recommendations

American Institute for Cancer Research
Monday, 9 September 2002

Citing Convincing Evidence, AICR says "One Hour Per Day" Recommendation Good for Preventing Cancer Too

Experts at the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) today welcomed a new health report that recommends increasing the current recommendations for daily physical activity. The AICR researchers pointed to mounting evidence linking physical activity to cancer prevention and increased cancer survival, in addition to improved cardiovascular health.

"We at AICR have been down this particular road already," said Melanie Polk, R.D., AICR's Director of Nutrition Education. "The exercise recommendations in this new Institute of Medicine report are closely in line with the exercise recommendations that AICR issued in 1997."

Unlike the new Institute of Medicine recommendations, AICR's 1997 recommendations dealt strictly with the issue of cancer prevention, and were derived from a landmark report on diet, lifestyle and cancer risk called Food, Nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer: a global perspective. This report analyzed results from over 4,500 studies on all aspects of the diet-cancer connection, and stands as the most comprehensive scientific work on lifestyle and cancer risk ever undertaken.

With regard to exercise and cancer risk, the 1997 AICR report concluded: "If occupational activity is low or moderate, take an hour's brisk walk or similar exercise daily, and also exercise vigorously for a total of at least one hour in a week."

Polk added that in the few years since the AICR report made that original recommendation, evidence that physical activity bestows a powerful anti-cancer effect has continued to grow.

To date, nearly 170 human studies have been completed on the association between physical activity and cancer. There is convincing evidence that exercise is associated with reduced risk for colon cancer and breast cancer. In studies, exercise was specifically associated with an average reduction in colon cancer risk of 40-50 percent, and a 30-40 percent reduction in breast cancer risk.

There is also evidence of a probable link between increased physical activity and lower risk for cancers of the prostate, and possible reductions in risk for cancers of the endometrium (lining of the uterus) and lung.

Despite the mounting evidence that exercise protects against cancer, most Americans remain unaware of the link. An AICR survey conducted in July 2001 revealed that only 35 percent of Americans were aware that insufficient physical activity was a risk factor for cancer. Even the new Institute of Medicine report overlooks the exercise-cancer link.

"Over and above its ability to drastically improve cardiovascular health, getting an hour's worth of exercise every day is one of the most important things you can do to help protect yourself from cancer," Polk said. "We welcome the Institute of Medicine's new recommendations, because Americans should be hearing a strong, unified message about the importance of exercise."

Polk was quick to caution that the new recommendations found in the Institute of Medicine's report - which urge Americans to spend one hour each day in "moderately intense" physical activity - should be regarded as a goal to be worked toward, not an absolute decree.

"By the time AICR's exercise recommendations came out in 1997, studies suggested that Americans were exercising, on average, 20 minutes per day. There was a real concern that a recommendation to suddenly increase to an hour a day would only frustrate people, not encourage them. You're seeing echoes of that now, with these new recommendations."

Polk is referring to the fact that the new Institute of Medicine exercise recommendations, which are twice the amount recommended by the Surgeon General in 1996, have already come under fire for being too extreme for Americans to maintain.

"Just to keep things in perspective: any amount of exercise is better than none," said Polk. "It's important to acknowledge that people are exercising, and trying to do more. They should be encouraged to shoot for an ultimate goal of an hour a day, not made to feel that falling a bit short is inadequate."

The new exercise recommendations are found in the Institute of Medicine report released on September 5, 2002, entitled Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein and Amino Acids. The report was prepared under the auspices of the Institute of Medicine, a nonprofit organization that develops US RDAs under a congressional charter granted to the National Academy of Sciences.

For more information, or to contact American Institute for Cancer Research, see their website at: www.aicr.org