Why exercise can improve the effectiveness of pills (and even chemotherapy)

Capable of improving heart, lung and bone health, preventing depression and keeping cancer at bay, it is no exaggeration to call exercise a wonder drug.

And now researchers are discovering another benefit: it can improve the effectiveness of drugs, such as those used in chemotherapy.

It can also counteract the side effects of some treatments, a recent study showing that 30 minutes of moderate-intensity cycling three times a week can significantly improve the heart health of dialysis patients.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in patients with end-stage renal disease. This is following dialysis; although it helps remove excess fluid and toxins (which build up as the kidneys fail), over time it can weaken the heart as fluctuating fluid levels put stress on it .

In a trial conducted by the University of Leicester involving 130 dialysis patients, they half-cycled on a moderate-intensity exercise bike for at least 30 minutes three times a week while undergoing treatment. The other half received standard care, without exercise. After six months, scans revealed that there was nearly 10 percent less inflammation in the heart of the cycling group, the Kidney International newspaper reported earlier this year.

“Doctors often treat things with a pill, but in order to improve long-term treatment, we also want to focus on more innovative ways to tackle the unique risk factors that kidney patients face, especially kidney disease. heart disease, “says James Burton, professor of nephrology. medicine at the University of Leicester, which led the study.

“Once the scarring appears, it is irreversible,” he adds. “But what the study showed was that exercise could prevent inflamed heart tissue from progressing into scar tissue which would then be associated with poor outcomes, including heart failure.”

One reason for this could be that a cellular messenger released by the muscles during exercise causes the heart to turn off inflammation.

The study also noted that the cycling group had fewer hospitalizations for kidney problems and shorter hospital stays.

Exercise has also been shown to protect against the risk of some cancers coming back. A review of 2019 studies found that the most active people who exercised during colorectal cancer treatment were up to 30% less likely to die over the next eight to ten years.

Keri Schadler, assistant professor of pediatric research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in the United States, suggests that the benefits may be due to the fact that the chemotherapy has to be delivered through the blood vessels, but these are ” immature and poorly functional ”in a tumor.

“Only 50 percent are carriers of blood, and therefore chemotherapy,” she told Good Health. “Most of the drugs end up being given to the periphery of the tumor, which is why the treatment is not as effective as it could be.”

In a 2019 study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, Dr Schadler demonstrated that exercise increased the number of blood vessels in a pancreatic tumor in mice. She found that there were five times more blood vessels in tumors in mice who exercised (on treadmills for 45 minutes a day, five days a week) compared to mice who didn’t. not.

“We treated them until the tumors were gone, and the mice that received the combination of exercise and chemotherapy then had a slower tumor regrowth,” says Dr Schadler.

“This showed that chemotherapy combined with exercise worked best when the tumor was present, but also that there appeared to be a delay in the growth of the tumor after stopping treatment.”

But why does exercise have this effect? “Evidence suggests that when you exercise and your blood circulates faster, you get a stronger mechanical signal to the endothelial cells that make your blood vessels, and this signals those cells to behave differently and become more mature, functional blood vessels, ”says Dr. Schadler.

In a study of pancreatic cancer patients who did 60 minutes of aerobic activity and 60 minutes of strengthening activity per week, Dr. Schadler found a “significant change” in the number of blood vessels in the body. tumors compared to patients who did not exercise.

It also has a direct role in the mobilization of our immune cells, especially natural killer cells which can kill tumor cells; a 2016 trial in the journal Cell Metabolism found that exercise stimulates the mobilization of these natural killer cells.

Other trials are looking at the potential benefits of exercise, including one starting at Sheffield Hallam University this fall, where patients with cancer of the lungs, colon, esophagus, stomach and small intestine will be prescribed exercise in addition to their cancer treatment, including chemotherapy.