#NEJM

A wave of headlines has cheered that exercise is “better than drugs” for preventing colon cancer recurrence, suggesting an exciting shift in how survivors might chart their recovery. But a closer examination of the latest landmark research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in June 2025, brings a far more nuanced—and ultimately more practical—message for cancer patients and the health community, including here in Thailand. The real story isn’t a competition between medicine and movement, but a call for a more holistic approach in which structured exercise and medical care both play distinctive and powerful roles in ensuring long-term health and survival.