Women who exercise and keep active are nearly 30 per cent less likely to develop womb cancer than couch potatoes - according to a new study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

A team from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda (NCI), Maryland, US found a strong link between the amount of exercise and physical activity women do and a lower risk of developing womb cancer.

In a separate study of 70,000 women they also found that sitting down for longer periods of time was associated with increased risk of the disease.

Dr Steven Moore, lead author of the NCI study, said: "Physical activity is known to reduce risk for breast and colon cancer, and now our study has found that physical activity can reduce risk for womb cancer as well.

"We already knew that maintaining a healthy body weight is an important way to reduce the risk of womb cancer, but our study showed that physical activity has a protective effect of its own."

Commenting on the findings, John Searle, chief medical officer of the UK's Fitness Industry Association (FIA) said: "The findings provide yet another reason to engage ourselves in physical activity.

"Engaging women in physical activity and educating them around the health benefits of participation is essential for lowering the risk of diseases such as this and the other disease areas that physical activity can help protect against."

Womb cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women with more than 7,500 new cases diagnosed each year in the UK.