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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director)
According to an American oncology researcher, a lifestyle habit aimed at gaining muscle should be seriously considered to increase one’s chances against the disease. Dr Gérald Kierzek, medical director of Doctissimo, gives us his insight.
Resisting the disease and especially the side effects of treatments is a major challenge that all people with cancer experience. Rightly so: according to a British study, toxic chemicals that fight tumors during chemotherapy and invasive operations, which often involve the removal of entire organs, cause the death of around a quarter of patients. But according to an American specialist, there is one thing we could do to increase our chances of survival. And it happens in a gym.
Lift weights to knock out the disease.
Dr. Lauren Yancey, an eye surgeon based at the Georgia Vision Institute who studies cancer-related vision loss, explained on TikTok that just one activity can strengthen the body before treatment, significantly improving the chances of survival: building your muscular mass.
“If you are considering cancer treatment, the best thing you can have before you begin this journey is good muscle mass. We know that chemotherapy drugs deplete skeletal muscles. If you don’t start with good muscle mass, you already start with your tank at zero” she indicates.
Thus, weightlifting, bodybuilding and developing muscle mass in general would be activities to add to your daily life to save your life.
The importance of maintaining appropriate physical activity
If lifting weights doesn’t really motivate you, it is nevertheless recommended to maintain sufficient muscle mass to get through the disease, as confirmed by Dr. Gérald Kierzek, medical director of Doctissimo.
“When you’re fighting cancer, it’s unfortunately normal to lose muscle. This is called sarcopenia, which according to studies affects up to three quarters of patients. This sarcopenia is associated with a reduction in physical activity, the toxicity of chemotherapeutics, but also with frequent postponements of treatment and poorer survival. However, we know that physical activity is important to support treatments. Maintaining sufficient muscle mass at all costs is therefore important.”
To this end, our doctor mentions two actions to take (and which do not necessarily involve lifting dumbbells):
- To do this, you must maintain a physical activity adapted to you, with a coach, which is today an integral part of the care plan;
- We must also act on the nutrition side, with protein supplementation if necessary, to avoid malnutrition.
Finally, according to the doctor, the reminder launched by this expert has the advantage of drawing attention to the importance of muscle mass “We must also focus on better evaluating this muscle loss, to better treat patients” concludes our expert.