What did the researchers do?
- Immediately after the research participants exercised, the researchers put the participants' blood into petri dishes containing colon cancer tumor cells.
- After letting the participants rest, they took more blood and put it into petri dishes with cancer tumor cells.
The researchers noticed the cancer cells grew more slowly in the blood drawn immediately after exercise than in the blood drawn after a period of rest.
What the researchers are thinking at this point: "The researchers think they may have identified that something in subsequent analyses of the men’s blood. They found a large increase in molecules involved in inflammation immediately after exercise. Inflammation can slow cell growth and reproduction. So a transitory increase in inflammatory markers after exercise might be helping to jam the proliferation of tumor cells."
What this could mean for the rest of us: "The changes in exercisers’ blood were potent but 'transient,'...So activities would have to be repeated to provide any continuing protection, and it remains unclear how intense or prolonged that exercise ideally would need to be, or if the effects extend equally to fighting other types of cancer."
How should we apply the lessons: Maybe it would mean that we should think about being active throughout the day rather than sedentary most of the day with spurts of exercise.
