Cancer Prevention

Aerobic exercise, a low fat, high fiber diet, and cancer:

Aerobic exercise and a low fat, high fiber diet made the blood much less hospitable to prostate cancer cells in vitro. A study authored by Barnard, et al. consisted of using the blood from 3 different groups of 51 to 64 year old males to treat cultured prostate cancer cells in the lab. They compared the blood placed in petri dishes with prostate cancer cells from 3 different groups. The groups included an exercise group that did a consistent exercise program for at least 10 years, a diet plus exercise group who did a consistent diet and exercise program for at least 10 years, and a placebo group. The diet and exercise group were part of a “Pritikin” program and ate low fat, high fiber and complex carbohydrates along with exercise 4-6 days per week. The exercise group exercised for 1 hour per day 5 days per week at a University program in Nevada but did not have any diet program. The placebo subjects were sedentary with poor dietary intake and felt to be at risk of prostate cancer. The blood from the diet plus exercise group caused a significantly greater rate of apoptosis of cancer cells and less growth rate in cancer cells in vitro than the exercise alone or placebo groups. (4)