A new study claims that most women whom likes exercising reaches menopause stage at an earlier time.  Researchers believe that the study could be essential in finding ways to prevent cancer.

The research conducted by Chisato Nagata and his associates at Gifu University.  They have followed over 3,100 premenopausal women for 10 years.  They made a conclusion that those who exercised the most — about eight to 10 hours a week — were 17 percent more prone to early menopause than their counterpart who exercises lesser.

In the same way, women who ate the most polyunsaturated fats, obtain in many fish and vegetable oils, were 15 percent more probable of reaching menopause stage at an earlier age those who ate the least.

In the course, of menopause, a woman’s ovaries do not produce any eggs, and she can no longer get pregnant.  Menopause starts between ages 41 and 55.

For the study, Nagata and associates gave food and activity feedback forms to women aged 35 to 56 at baseline. Over the next decade, around 1,800 of them went got into menopausal stage earlier than their peers, who does not exercise as much as they are doing.

Researchers never gave a hint about the age of women who participated in the study at the course of study.  However, the journal Menopause believes that they are active women and gets a lot of polyunsaturated fats.

President of the North American Menopause Society, JoAnn Manson says doing so means women does not get that much exposure to high estrogen levels.  Estrogen is responsible in promoting breast tumors, and that may clarify why early menopause has something to do with lower risk of breast cancer.

She added that there are also a downside in early menopause since it also increases the risk of bone thinning and heart diseases.

There are other studies that where conducted on menopause, but they were contradictory. For instances, advanced physical activity — usually five or more hours of work out a week — linked to early menopause.  However, they’ve also been linked to irregular menstrual cycles, leading to later menopause.

Nagata and colleagues say the whole fat does not have any effect on the timing of menopause.

Manson, who is also at the Harvard Medical School, believe physical activity, reduces estrogen levels, and that may be why it is connected to the early beginning of menopause.

Manson added that the take home message from this study is that habitual exercise is essential in reducing the risk for several hormone-related cancers and osteoporosis.