Press Releases
Low Awareness that Physical Activity Reduces Risk of Cancer
17 Jun 2004
A mere 38% of adult New Zealanders agree that regular physical activity decreases the risk of cancer, and only 51% agree that eating fruit and vegetables does.
Revealed in a recent joint SPARC/Cancer Society survey of over 8000 New Zealanders about physical activity and nutrition, the low awareness of these links is alarming says SPARC CE Nick Hill.
"Most people accept that smoking has a significant impact on the risk of cancer, but there are many other things that we can do to minimise our risk, such as being active and eating well.
"The Cancer Society supports SPARC's Push Play message - that everyone would benefit from at least 30 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week. To further reduce the risk of developing cancer, studies show it is even better if you increase the 30 minutes to 45-60 minutes and make some of the activity vigorous. Of course, this will also help prevent other diseases like diabetes, obesity and heart disease," says Hill.
In addition, a new Cancer Society report recommends that people minimise their risk of cancer and obesity by eating the right amounts of fruit and vegetables.
Released today at Parliament, "Pulp Fiction - the Facts Harvested" reveals that about half the adult population fails to eat the recommended daily amount of five servings of fruit and vegetables.
The Cancer Society report is based on the finding of the joint SPARC/Cancer Society survey. SPARC also released a report based on this survey - Obstacles to Action - that revealed that 1.3 million New Zealand adults are insufficiently active and focused upon the reasons why.
Two SPARC/Cancer Society resources, "Reducing Cancer Risk - The Benefits Of Being Physically Active" and "Being Active When You Have Cancer", are available from 0800 ACTIVE (228 483).
Updated | 30 Mar 2006.
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