Looking to stay fit, energized, and cancer-free? It may be time to add some espresso to your postworkout routine.
The perfect postworkout drink?
Caffeine and exercise may work together to decrease your risk of developing skin cancer, says a recent report presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual meeting. Researchers studied the effects that caffeine and exercise had on 160 mice that had been exposed to UVB radiation. The mice were split into four groups: One with plain water and no exercise wheel; another with water mixed with caffeine and no exercise wheel; a third that had plain water and an exercise wheel; and a group that had water mixed with caffeine as well as an exercise wheel.
After monitoring the mice for 14 weeks, the researchers found that the mice who had access to both caffeine and exercise not only had 62 percent fewer non-melanoma skin tumors, the size of their tumors was 85 percent smaller than those of the mice that had no wheel and no caffeine.
More from MensHealth.com: Never Have Skin Cancer
The results beg the question: What is so special about this dynamic duo? The researchers suggest there may be a link between cancer development, fat, and inflammation.
“Our current research shows that both caffeine and exercise decreased the fat tissue in these mice,” says Yao-Ping Lu, Ph.D., lead study author and the director of skin cancer prevention at the Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, in Piscataway, N.J.
Since fat tissue produces inflammatory compounds (and inflammation has been linked to increased risk of skin cancer), Lu explained, the evidence suggests that exercise and caffeine can aid in the prevention of skin cancer.
Best of all, the researchers believe these findings can be extrapolated to humans. (So to get more details on how your morning cup of Joe may save your skin, check out this article on how coffee fights skin cancer.)
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