Brisk walking lowers the risk of 5 cancers

We’ve funded novel research into the links between walking pace and previously unexamined cancer sites.

Author: The WCRF team

Published: 4 June 2025

Researchers funded by World Cancer Research Fund have discovered that brisk walking is linked to a lower risk of 5 cancers:

anal
liver (hepatocellular carcinoma)
small intestine
thyroid
lung

Using information stored in the UK Biobank – a large database of many different aspects of health – scientists explored the link between walking pace – slow, steady or brisk – and the risk of developing 28 types of cancer.

They confirmed that the link between brisk walking and a reduced risk of developing the 5 cancers was true, even after accounting for overall physical activity and total walking time.

Speeding up your walk could represent an easy, low-cost public health intervention to decrease cancer risk.

The paper, published in BMC Cancer, says:

“Adopting a brisk walking pace may represent a pragmatic target for public health interventions to decrease cancer risk, particularly in circumstances where increases in walking volume or frequency prove impractical.”

PhD student Michael Stein’s research was supported by funding from Prof Michael Leitzmann’s grant. This research was funded by World Cancer Research Fund as part of the WCRF International Regular Grant Programme.

> Read the full paper: Usual walking Pace and risk of 28 cancers– results from the UK biobank

> More on this grant