Teenagers who exercise regularly reduce their later risk of death from all causes, including cancer, a new study has found.

According to the findings, the risk of death during middle and older age is reduced if people were active teens, regardless of exercise in adulthood.

US researchers used data from a Chinese women's health study, which involved around 75,000 women aged between 45 and 70. The data included details about how active the participants were at the ages of 13 and 19 years.

The women were followed up for an average of almost 13 years, during which time, almost 5,300 deaths were recorded.

The study found that women who were active during adolescence had a lower risk of death from all causes. Those who exercised for up to 90 minutes per week had a 16% reduced risk of death from cancer, and a 15% reduced risk of death from all causes.

Those who exercised for more than 90 minutes per week during adolescence had a 13% reduced risk of death from all causes.

The study also found that those who participated in team sports during adolescence had a 14% reduced risk of death from cancer, and a 10% reduced risk of death from all causes, when they reached middle and older age.

Meanwhile, women who exercised regularly during adolescence and as adults had a 20% reduced risk of death from all causes.

"In women, adolescent exercise participation, regardless of adult exercise, was associated with reduced risk of cancer and all-cause mortality. Our results support the importance of promoting exercise participation in adolescence to reduce mortality in later life and highlight the critical need for the initiation of disease prevention early in life," commented the study's author, Dr Sarah Nechuta of the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center in Tennessee.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.