Overview

• The CHALLENGE trial enrolled 889 colon cancer survivors across Canada, Australia, the UK, France, Israel and the US and monitored them for a median of nearly eight years after treatment.
• Participants who engaged in a structured three-year exercise program with biweekly coaching for one year and monthly support for two more years met targets of three to four 45–60-minute activity sessions per week.
• Compared to an education-only control group, the exercise cohort achieved a 28% reduction in cancer recurrence and a 37% decrease in all-cause mortality at eight years.
• These results were unveiled at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting and published in the New England Journal of Medicine on June 1.
• Oncologists recommend integrating structured exercise coaching into standard post-treatment care and are now analyzing participants’ blood samples to uncover the biological mechanisms driving these survival gains.