Moderate exercise can stave off cancer

Sylvester Stallone, age

75, works out relentlessly on weight machines, using hand weights and his own body weight. Serena Williams, 40, does an intense lineup of arm, glute and core/leg exercises, designed to increase her metabolism and endurance. It turns out, such over-the-top routines aren’t necessary to reap one of the most important benefits of physical activity — preventing cancer.

A report from the American Cancer Society says 46,000 cancer cases annually in the U.S. could be avoided if folks got just five hours of physical activity a week. And we’re not talking running up stairs or bench pressing 200 pounds. What’s needed is five hours of moderate-intensity activity — brisk walking, water aerobics, riding a bike, pushing a lawn mower, hiking or rollerblading.

The report, published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, shows that 16.9 percent of stomach cancers, 11.9 percent of endometrial

DRS. OZ AND ROIZEN

cancers, 11 percent of kidney cancers, 9.3 percent of colon cancers, 8.1 percent of esophageal cancers, 6.5 percent of female breast cancers and 3.9 percent of urinary bladder cancers are associated with lack of exercise.

If you can find seven hours a day to stare at a screen (that’s U.S. adults’ average), you can find an hour a day to live better.

Food choices and memory

In the 2011 movie “Bridesmaids,” when the wedding party is hit with food poisoning while shopping for their dresses, one of them screams, “What did we eat?”

If you find yourself wondering that, too — the answer may be “highly processed foods.” According to a new lab study by researchers at Ohio State

University, a month of chowing down on highly inflammatory, processed foods that lack fiber and healthy fats is enough to damage memory, especially in seniors.

When older lab rats were fed a diet that mimicked ready-to-eat packaged foods, such as potato chips, frozen entrees like pasta dishes and pizzas, and deli meats containing preservatives, it damaged the memory centers in their hippocampus.

The good news is that omega-3 DHA can help protect you from that unhealthy junk. But the study, published in Brain, Behavior and Immunity, cautions that the anti-inflammatory powers of DHA aren’t enough to eliminate the life-shortening risks of obesity. The best way to enjoy the health boost from DHA is to cut highly processed foods out of your diet completely.

Email questions for Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen to youdocsdaily@sharecare.com.