Cancer research: Experts to examine link between sedentary lifestyle and cancer

LAZINESS could be making Australians more likely to ­suffer from 13 different types of cancer, however more ­evidence is needed to know which diseases physical ­activity will save us from.

The study will gather people’s true level of activity to see how it relates to cancer diagnosis.

LAZINESS could be making Australians more likely to ­suffer from 13 different types of cancer, however more ­evidence is needed to know which diseases physical ­activity will save us from.

A new Melbourne research project is aiming to sort fact from fiction over which cancers are actually affected by sedentary lives, in the hope of getting people moving and avoiding needless deaths.

Convincing evidence has shown postmenopausal breast, colon and endometrial cancers are linked to physical activity, leading health authorities to blame 1.6 per cent of cancers on inactivity.

But experts believe at least 10 other cancers may stem from a lack of exercise, prompting Brigid Lynch of Cancer Council Victoria to undertake state-backed studies to clarify the links.

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Experts believe some cancers may stem from a sedentary lifestyle. Picture: iStock

“Certainly looking between different types of cancer, we expect some will be more plausible than others,” said ­Associate Professor Lynch.

“We clearly can’t make ­policy and public health practice decisions based on one study, we need to generate more evidence.

“If we can build some strong evidence around some of these other types of cancers, that will be a really strong indicator to cancer control agencies in Australia and around the world that physical inactivity should be a higher priority for cancer control.”

Based on a UK study of 1.5 million people, the World Cancer Research Fund says there is “suggestive evidence” linking oesophageal, liver, lung and premenopausal breast cancers to a lack of physical ­activity. There is also a belief, but low evidence, linking kidney, gastric, myeloid leukaemia, myeloma, head and neck, rectal and bladder ­cancers.

But while the study found a lack of exercise raised the risk of some cancers by up to 42 per cent, it relied on people retrospectively self-reporting their levels of activity.

Assoc Prof Lynch will use accelerators on subjects to gather data on their true levels of activity and how it relates to cancer diagnosis.

“If we can say ‘it is much higher than we previously thought, how about putting some more resources into addressing inactivity’, I think it is a good strategic way,” she said.

Announcing Assoc Prof Lynch as one of the 13 recipients of $10 million worth of Victorian Cancer Agency research grants, Health Minister Jill Hennessy said it was important to back the state’s leading researchers.

“We already know that physical inactivity can lead to a raft of unwelcome health concerns, but this is important research that will help us learn more about the relationship between being active and being protected against cancer,” she said.