Researchers from Australia completed a review of 76 studies and found that greater levels of physical activity and less sedentary time may help reduce breast cancer risk.
For the current study, the research team analyzed data from 130,957 women of European ancestry from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC). They found that higher levels of genetically predicted physical activity were linked to a 41% lower risk of invasive breast cancer independent of menopausal status, tumor type, stage, or grade.
Study co-author Dr. Brigid Lynch, deputy head of the Cancer Epidemiology Division at Cancer Council Victoria, Australia, says: “The main way that physical activity reduces breast cancer risk is by lowering the levels of sex steroid hormones – lower levels of estrogens and androgens are related to a lower risk of breast cancer.”