INFLAMMATION SEEMS TO BE AT THE CENTER OF A LOT OF THINGS: Why Does Exercise Guard Against Cancer? Inflammation May Play a Role. “One of the most important benefits of exercise is in how it reduces our risk of developing a number of types of cancer — especially colorectal cancer, which according to some estimates is the malignancy most influenced by physical activity. But how workouts guard against colon cancer remains largely unknown. . . . In the dishes containing fluid taken from the men immediately after a single workout, the scientists counted far fewer cancer cells than in those awash in fluid drawn two hours after exercise. There was no similar decline in the dishes from the men who had trained for a month. In effect, something about the blood drawn immediately after the workout was slowing the growth of cancer cells.”