Brisk walking benefits men with prostate cancer

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Washington, May 25 : Brisk walking seems to benefit patients with prostate cancer in early stages, says a new study based on a survey of 1,455 US men diagnosed with the condition.

Scientists from the University of California and the Harvard School of Public Health, found that men who walked briskly, for at least three hours every week after diagnosis, were nearly 60 percent less likely to require a second bout of treatment.

'The important point was the intensity of the activity - the walking had to be brisk for men to experience a benefit,' said study co-author Erin Richman, postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco, reports the journal Cancer Research.

The new study complements an earlier Harvard finding that physical activity post diagnosis could reduce disease-related mortality in a distinct population of men with prostate cancer, according to a California statement.

After skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed type of cancer among men in the US, and more than 217,000 US men are diagnosed with the disease every year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Vigorous exercise and brisk walking have been consistently shown to have significant benefits on cardiovascular health, diabetes and many other diseases.