An LSU Pennington Biomedical researcher finds colorectal cancer survivors need to maintain and build muscle mass or face a 40 percent greater risk of premature death.
Cancer Metabolism Program Director Dr. Justin Brown said muscle is a large organ that provides a lot of health benefits that are vital for survivors, so you need to hit the weights.
“While your body weight may not change and the weight on the scale stays the same your muscles are probably growing and being stimulated and that is very important for long-term health,” said Brown.
The study found women face even higher odds of premature death than men when losing muscle. Brown said they don’t exactly know why that is, but there’s an early theory.
“It could be that they are just starting off with less muscle so they are less susceptible to having these losses in muscle mass and muscle quality,” said Brown.
Brown said survivors don’t need to become powerlifters to build and maintain a healthy amount of muscle.
“We encourage people to do one to two days of muscle-strengthening activity which is lifting weights or doing bodyweight exercises like calisthenics,” said Brown who added that’s on top of 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity.
Comments