A surprising benefit of HIIT

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the standard approaches to slow the growth of colon cancer  – but high intensity exercise can have the same positive effect – a new study has found.

Even a short session of high intensity interval training (HIIT) can induce changes in blood cells that slow the growth of colon cancer cells or even kill them off completely.

These positive effects were seen after just one exercise session, although the colon cancer patients went on to complete 12 HIIT sessions over a month.

Even after the first session, blood samples showed an increase in markers of inflammation, and when cancer cells in the lab wehre exposed to these samples they started dying, researchers at the University of Queensland have discovered.

Although earlier studies have shown that intesntive exercise can dlow the growth of cancer cells, the researchers were surprised to see it was also reducing the number of cancer cells, suggesting they were beign killed off.

Reference

James L. Devin, Michelle M. Hill, Marina Mourtzakis, Joe Quadrilatero, David G. Jenkins, Tina L. Skinner. Acute high intensity interval exercise reduces colon cancer cell growth. The Journal of Physiology, 2019

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