Prostate Cancer studies find advantage in daily acetaminophen and walks Brisk

POP a Tylenol and take a brisk walk for protection against prostate cancer? This is what the results of two new studies published this week suggested.

In the first study, published Monday in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, biomarkers and prevention, scientists have found that men who took a daily dose of acetaminophen (Tylenol) for five years had a 38% lower risk of developing cancer of the prostatecompared with men. In addition, daily acetaminophen has been associated with an of 51% reduced risk of developing an aggressive form of the disease. The men who took acetaminophen for less than five years saw no protective benefit.

Previous research has shown that taking aspirin or other drugs anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) every day can reduce the risk of prostate cancer. The authors believe that the same may be true of acetaminophen; While not an NSAID, it has anti-inflammatory properties.

For the study, researchers looked at data 78,485 men who participated in the longitudinal Cancer Prevention study II Nutrition cohort, answering questions on the use of food and pharmaceutical plan every two years from 1992. During the period of follow-up, there were 8,092 cases of prostate cancer - much less in the group who took acetaminophen daily for five years.

The second study, published Tuesday online research on Cancer, involved 1,455 men who had already been achieved in prostate cancer stage. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Harvard School of Public Health, then the men from 2004 to 2009 and found that those who engaged in regular brisk walking after diagnosis were significantly less likely to see their progression of the disease.

Men who walked fast - at a rate of approximately 3 miles per hour or faster - at least three hours per week were 57% less likely to experience of the progression of the disease (including high levels of PSA)(, secondary treatment of bone metastases and prostate cancer-related deaths), compared with men who walked less and more slowly.

"The important point is the intensity of activity," Erin Richman, a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF, said in a statement. "The March must be rapid for men to experience an advantage."

Researchers have said that the effect of speed walking remains independent of age, diagnosis, type of treatment and characteristics of the disease. Average age of patients at diagnosis was 65. The findings are consistent with previous research, which suggests that physical activity can help reduce the risk of deaths from the disease in some cases of prostate cancer.

Why the association? Reports MedPage Today:

Richman and his colleagues have noted that brisk walking may reduce resistance to insulin, which reduces bioavailable,-1 (IGF1) insulin-like growth factor and increases adiponectin levels, which are all associated with the decrease in the risk of prostate cancer advanced or fatal in vitro and in vivo.

Another potential source of reduction is inflammation reduced due to low circulation of Interleukin-6, high levels of which "predicts risk of 73% increased to die of cancer of the prostate in men of normal weight."wrote the researchers.

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men. According to the National Cancer Institute, men about 32,050 die of cancer of the prostate in 2010 and 217,000 new cases were diagnosed. More than 2.2 million of men to the United States with prostate cancer.