Cancer
Caffeine and exercise cut skin cancer risk
By David Liu
Aug 5, 2007 - 2:54:40 PM

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Sunday August 5, 2007 (Foodconsumer.org)  - A new study suggests drinking caffeinated water and doing exercise may drastically reduce risk of UV-induced skin cancer in humans.

The mouse study found that drinking caffeinated water, voluntarily running wheels and doing both drinking caffeine and running wheels increased the number of apoptotic cells by 96, 120 and 376 percent, respectively.

The study was conducted by Dr. Allan Conney, the Laboratory for Cancer Research at Rutgers University in Piscataway, N.J.  and colleagues and published in the most recent issue of Proc Natl Acad Sci.

One explanation for the increased apoptosis is that the tumor suppressor protein phospho-p53 was increased by 27 percent by drinking caffeine water, 18 percent by running wheels and 99 percent by both drinking caffeine and running wheels.

P53 is an important anticancer factor to activate DNA repair proteins, arrest the cycle of cells with DAN injured cells and initiate apoptosis in the event that the damaged cells could not be repaired.

There is also an explanation why exercise can increase the apoptosis.  Conney's team found that drinking caffeine water, running wheels and doing both drinking caffeine and exercise help lose the weight of the parametrical fat pads by 35, 62 and 77 percent.

An early study also by Conney's team suggested that fat may secrete substances to prohibit apoptosis.  Caffeine and exercise both help lose weight of certain fats.

The amount of caffeine in the study can be found in one to four cups of coffee. The magnitude of exercise is equivalent to running 3 kilometers a day, media reported early.

Skin cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in the United States.  Most cases of skin cancer can be cured because they can be found at their early stage and treatment is also relatively easy. 

But some skin cancers such as melanoma are highly deadly.  The American Cancer Society estimated that the year of 2007 will witness 8,110 deaths from melanoma in the U.S.