It can be a bit alarming for the normal Canadian to know that it has been established by research that obesity and inactivity stand almost on the same scale between cancer survivors of Canada and the rest of Canadians. According to the research findings of Dr. Kerry Courneya, Professor and Canada Research Chairperson at University of Alberta in Edmonton, and affiliated scientist of the Centre for Behavioral Research and Program Evaluation, based on studies of 114,000 adults in a 2005 Community Health Survey, the following facts were established.
It was seen that, 21% of cancer survivors and 25% of general population of Canada were physically active, 18% of the cancer-recovered were obese while 15% of the general population was obese, an extra 34% of the cancer survivors were overweight, while the number of overweight general population was a 37%, almost half of the cancer survivors (about 53%) were overweight while again half (about 52%) of the Canadian population was overweight.
The statistics show a striking comparison between the cancer affected and the general Canadians in terms of obesity and inactivity. This is not to alarm a non-cancerous Canadian that he/she runs a very high (lets say 100%) risk of being affected with cancer. It is just to caution Canadians and the rest of the global population in general that obesity and inactivity play havoc on one’s health. The normal people become vulnerable to a lot of deadly diseases - like hypertension, diabetes, coronary complications - other than cancer. Those who are lucky enough to survive cancer run a high risk of developing it once again if they do not take care of their physical activity levels. According to Dr. Kerry Courneya, the lifestyle of a person is a very important factor. One should always eat a healthy diet and exercise well to metabolize the diet and derive optimum energy from it.
Heather Chappell, a Senior Manager of Cancer Control Policy at the Canadian Cancer Society opines that cancer has a profound negative effect on the patients as well as their families and this can be avoided by taking small steps in the direction of a healthy lifestyle.
According to the researchers, a ‘physically active’ person is one who does an hour of walking a day, a ‘moderately active person’ is one who does about half an hour of walking a day and an ‘inactive person’ is one who walks for a lesser time than that. The research defined an obese person as having a BMI (body mass index) of a minimum of 30 and an overweight person having a BMI between 25 and 30.
via: Medical News Today
