Recreational physical activity may be associated with breast tissue composition and biomarkers of stress in adolescent girls, according to a new study from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC). The findings shed new light on how physical activity during adolescence-a critical period of breast development-may influence biological pathways related to future breast cancer risk.
In adult women, higher levels of recreational physical activity (RPA) are consistently linked to a lower risk of breast cancer, with studies showing roughly a 20 percent reduction in risk among the most active women compared with the least active. Until now, however, the biological mechanisms underlying this association-particularly earlier in life-have…