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Exercise
may result in men smoking fewer cigarettes per day but does
not appear to protect them from developing lung cancer, according
to researchers at the National Cancer Institute.
Researchers
studied 27,087 men, ages 50 to 69, who smoked at least five
cigarettes per day between 1985 and 1988.
The men
were evaluated for their occupational and leisure physical
activity, body mass index, number of cigarettes smoked daily,
number of years they smoked, education level, calorie intake
and vegetable consumption. A total of 1,442 men were diagnosed
with lung cancer during the study's ten-year follow up.
Men in
the study who engaged in some kind of leisure activity were
found to have smoked fewer cigarettes per day and inhaled
smoke less frequently than the men who were not as active,
according to the study published in the International Journal
of Cancer,
But overall,
the physical activity did not affect the men's risk of developing
lung cancer. A small exception was found in physically active
men between age 50 and 56 who were 20 to 25 percent less likely
to develop lung cancer than less active men. This trend was
not found in the older men.
Source:
Medical Week staff,
week of April 21, 2002
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