Association of Exercise, Insulin, and Breast Cancer Recurrence

Can lifestyle interventions lower the incidence of breast cancer or lower risk for disease recurrence? Many researchers have evaluated the effects of exercise, weight, diet, stress, alcohol consumption, and other lifestyle behaviors on breast cancer incidence and disease recurrence. Results of epidemiologic studies have suggested that physically active women have lower risk for breast cancer than do sedentary women, and observational studies have suggested that women who are more physically active after being diagnosed with breast cancer have longer breast cancer–specific and overall survival than do similar women who are sedentary.

Different mechanisms linking exercise and breast cancer have been proposed, but the most compelling explanatio…