Bob Butler, the founding director of the National Institute on Aging, once declared, "If exercise could be packaged in a pill, it would be the single most widely prescribed and beneficial medicine in the nation."

Almost 50 years after that declaration, scientists have discovered that exercise is powerful medicine in the battle against cancer — even in late stages.

Australian researchers exploring the anti-prostate cancer benefits of high-intensity aerobics discovered that over six months, guys with prostate cancer can boost the level of tumor growth-suppressing proteins called myokines that are produced by skeletal muscles. They can achieve this by spending 34 minutes daily on a stationary cycle.

In their most recent research, the researchers found that in patients with incurable cancer, the exercise-induced production of these tumor-fighters prolonged survival.

For all cancer patients, the researchers suggest that 20-plus minutes daily of high-intensity aerobics accompanied by resistance training helps maintain the anti-tumor effects.

My hope is that you can avoid cancer altogether by following my GreatAgeReboot.com program:

• Do aerobic and resistance exercise regularly. Manage stress with a posse, purpose, and play.

• Take an after-dinner walk and get less TV time.

• Take vitamin D and omega-3s (from 4 ounces of salmon daily) as well as half a multivitamin/multimineral twice daily.

• Ask your doctor about taking low-dose aspirin (twice daily with a half glass of warm water before and after).

• Avoid diabetes, midlife obesity, high blood pressure, and hearing loss, along with not smoking, and make a lifelong commitment to education.

If you do these things, you'll radically reduce your risk for cancer, as well as dementia and cardiovascular disease.