Study shows that Caffeine and Exercise can help protect against Skin Cancer

By Angela Young

It's no surprise that exercise has a positive effect in the protection against skin and other types of cancer. Recently research has now linked the positive effects of caffeine and exercise to aid in the protective of skin cancer caused by sun exposure. The combination of exercise and caffeine has an anti-inflammatory reaction that not only decreases the sunlight caused forms of skin cancer, but also the cancers linked to obesity. 

In studies done with mice, the combination of treatment with exercise and caffeine decreased the formation of skin cancer caused by sunlight. Scientists believe when they treatment studies move to humans they will see the same, if not better, results. These findings were presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2012 by Yao-Ping Lu, Ph.D associate research professor of chemical biology and director of skin cancer prevention at the Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. 

The study was conducted using mice that had a high risk of skin cancer. The mice were given a daily dose of caffeine and exercised on a running wheel every day. These mice showed 62 percent few skin tumors than mice without this treatment plan. Researchers also did treatment plans consisting of caffeine-only and exercise-only mice. The mice treated only with caffeine had a 27 percent reduction in tumors, while the mice treated with only exercise had a 35 percent in tumor reduction. The tumor volumes still showed a reduction of 61 percent and 70 percent respectively. Caffeine and exercise also showed weight loss which was primarily in the parametrial fat pad. This fat pad decreased by 63 perfect when mice were on the combined caffeine and exercise treatment plan. 

The biggest link here is the decrease in inflammation. There has been a known direct link between inflammation and cancer. Inflammation is the cause of many problems throughout the range of medical conditions. When you are able to control the level of inflammation in your body you are at a smaller risk of skin cancer, other forms of cancers and many other health conditions. Caffeine and exercise, used in combination, are just one of the ways to lower the inflammation in your body. As these studies proved in mice, caffeine and exercise can go a long way in the prevent of skin cancer.