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'Caffeinated' Workout May Cut Cancer
Combo of exercise and coffee can fight skin cancer
By Samantha Chang
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Posted Jul 30, 07 7:20 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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New research suggests that drinking coffee, combined with regular exercise, speeds up the killing off of cells damaged by ultraviolet-B radiation. Researchers at Rutgers University specifically examined UVB apoptosis — the programmed death of cells that become damaged by ultraviolet rays – in hairless mice. This sort of cell-suicide helps prevent the formation of deadly melanoma skin cancer. The mice were divided into four groups for the study. The first group drank the equivalent of one or two cups of coffee per day. The second group exercised regularly on a running wheel. The third had both caffeine and exercise, and a fourth group had neither. The rate of cell suicide was 400 percent greater in mice that both drank caffeine and exercised, when compared to the control group, the researchers say. When combined, caffeine and exercise also “markedly” decreased tissue fat in the mice.