PEOPLE who exercise at high intensity are less likely to develop cancer and die, research suggests.

Jogging, swimming, rowing and games like squash or football all lead to a lower risk of developing cancer and dying from it.

However, the study found, people must exercise for at least 30 minutes a day.

Experts followed 2,560 men from eastern Finland with no history of cancer and asked them how often they exercised.

The men, aged from 42 to 61, filled in questionnaires and undertook physical tests to measure the intensity of their exercise.

They were followed up for an average of almost 17 years and were aged 53 on average at the start of the follow-up.

The intensity of exercise was measured in metabolic units.

The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that men who did an average of 5.2 MET activity for at least 30 minutes a day had around half the risk of cancer death of those who exercised less.

This held true after adjusting for factors likely to influence the results, such as age, alcohol consumption, smoking, body mass index and calorie intake.

The average duration of physical activity was 462 minutes per week.