Taking a walk in the park, with your morning coffee in hand, may be more than just a relaxing way to start the day. New research shows the combined effects of exercise and caffeine consumption may help ward off skin cancer.
Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy researchers said their findings – based on a study of mice – suggest the effects of caffeine and physical activity may prevent inflammation in the body tied to skin cancer as well as other obesity-linked cancers
"We found that this combination treatment can decrease sunlight-caused skin cancer formation in a mouse model," said lead researcher Yao-Ping Lu. "I believe we may extrapolate these findings to humans and anticipate that we would benefit from these combination treatments as well."
For the study, which was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Richmond this week, researchers tested the effects of caffeine and exercise on mice at risk for developing skin cancer. Mice given a dose of caffeine and exercised with a running wheel had 62 percent fewer skin tumors. Tumors also decreased by 85 percent compared with the mice that did not consume caffeine or exercise.
Caffeine and exercise alone had benefits, the study found. But the combination had a more powerful effect.
This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health.