Washington: Increasing fitness can help even those with advanced cancer and also help reduce side-effects, a cancer conference in the US was told.
25 minute brisk walk can double the chances of survival for Cancer patients experts claim.
Experts said losing 5% of body weight as little as half a stone could lead to a 20% increase in breast cancer survival.
Breast cancer patients who had a 25-minute brisk walk each day had mortality rates 46% lower than those living sedentary lives, a Yale Cancer Center study found.
Death rates even fell by a third in the previously inactive. Study leader Prof Melinda Irwin said: “After treatment, weight loss is the most powerful thing, and has no side effects.”
“An intensive workout has a direct effect on prostate cancer even at an advanced stage,” said oncologist Fred Saad.
Dr Saad of Montreal University, Canada, said: “Cancer patients should be given a personal trainer alongside their medication as part of their treatment on the health service.”