Physical activity and colon cancer risk among women in the California Teachers Study.

Long-term participation in physical activities may help postmenopausal women who are never users of hormone replacement therapy  beat colon cancer.

​This study determined the role of physical activity in the prevention of colon cancer in women. Researchers tracked the lifestyle habits and colon cancer diagnosis status of over 120,000 women between the ages of 22-84 years recruited from the California Teachers Study. 

Researchers observed a significant drop in colon cancer risk among postmenopausal women who were physically active for a long time, particularly in women who had never been placed on hormone replacement therapy. "Lifetime recreational physical activity may protect against colon cancer among postmenopausal women who have never used hormone therapy," the authors noted.