Exercise Protects Against Aggressive Breast Cancer in Black Women, Says Study

ER- tumors do not respond to hormone therapies used to treat tumors that have the estrogen receptor. "These findings are very encouraging. Knowing that exercise may protect against breast cancers that disproportionately strike black women is of great public health importance," says Lucile Adams-Campbell, PhD, professor of oncology and associate director of Minority Health & Health Disparities Research at Georgetown Lombardi. "We all want to do what we can to reduce our risk of disease and improve our health, and along with other well known benefits, we now show that exercise can possibly stave off development of potentially lethal breast cancer in black women," she says. Exercise, at any level, appeared to have no effect on development of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) in these women, the researchers say.