Exercise remains one of healthcare’s most powerful interventions for improving a participant’s mental, emotional, and physical health. Research also supports active participant’s have significantly lower risks of future diseases including heart disease and cancer compared to their sedentary peers. National and international guidelines are well established on the minimum durations of activity needed each week to reach these health benefits. Our country’s guidelines include at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week, as well as, two days a week of strength training.
Waist circumference is another important health risk factor for heart disease, cancer, and early mortality. An increase in abdominal body fat measured by waist circumference is associated with altered metabolism and insulin resistance which significantly changes an individual’s disease risk. Interestingly, individuals who carry more fat mass around their mid section are at higher risk than individual’s carrying fat mass in other areas of the body. A recent study highlights the impact of both physical activity and waist circumference on the risk of future cancer diagnoses.
Bohmann and colleagues published the results of their study on the impact of physical activity and waist circumference on cancer risk in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (2025). Researchers utilized a cohort of 315,000 individuals to analyze the relationship between physical activity, waist circumference, and future cancer diagnosis. Authors used waist circumference of < 102cm and < 88 cm for men and women, respectively. Over an eleven year period just under 30,000 of these participants were diagnosed with cancer. The greatest risk of future cancer risk was found among participants who did not meet national guidelines on exercise and had greater waist circumference.
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