A new study found that women who spend too much time sitting are putting themselves at risk of cancers, such as myeloma, breast and ovarian cancer. The findings provide more evidence on how much too much sitting could affect our health in the long run.
Researchers led by Dr. Alpa Patel, a Strategic Director of Cancer Prevention Study-3 for the Epidemiology Research Program for the American Cancer Society, recruited 146,000 cancer-free participants (69,260 men and 77,462 women) in a study aiming to find a link between leisure time and cancer risk. Between 1999 and 2009, 27 percent of the men and 16 percent of the women were diagnosed with different types of cancer.
After considering other factors, including the levels of physical activity and BMI, the researchers concluded that there was no association between sitting and the cancer risk of men. However, they saw a significant link between too much sitting and the women's cancer risk.
"Longer leisure-time spent sitting was associated with a higher risk of total cancer risk in women, and specifically with multiple myeloma, breast and ovarian cancers, but sitting time was not associated with cancer risk in men," the authors wrote, according to a press release.
The risk analysis showed that women who sat more than six hours a day had a 10 percent higher risk of developing cancer compared to those who spends three hours sitting. Focusing on specific cancers, the researchers determined a 65 percent risk for multiple myeloma, 10 percent risk of breast cancer, and 43 percent risk of ovarian cancer, according to TODAY.
The researchers admitted that further study is needed to determine why the same risk was not observed in men, but the findings are still relevant because it reminds everyone to get up and out of their seats from time to time to stay healthy.
"Encouraging individuals across all categories of weight to reduce sitting time would have an impact on their physical activity, with beneficial effects on cancer and other chronic diseases," Dr. Paolo Bofetta, a professor of preventative medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, said to HealthDay News. He wasn't involved in the research.
The study was published in the July 14 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention.
