Submitted by Armen Hareyan on Feb 15th, 2008
Researchers suggest that obesity is linked to numerous types of cancer.
Previous studies have already proved obesity or even being overweight may lead to breast and colon cancer. This new study conducted by British Medical Association, University of Manchester, University of Bern, Switzerland suggests that obesity may also cause rare types of cancer such as "cancer of the esophagus, thyroid, kidney, uterus, gall bladder".
About half of population of developed countries suffer from excess weight. Obesity is already proved to cause heart disease and diabetes. This research is just a reminder that being overweight seriously harms public health. Health professionals are once more urging to eat healthy and exercise for better health.
"This study provides a lot of circumstantial evidence about the dangers of obesity," said Dr. David Robbins, a gastroenterologist at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. "It also highlights the cancer crisis we face as obesity rates increase worldwide."
Research examined data from 141 previous studies including about 280000 cases in US and Europe. The researched was aimed to find the link formula between body mass index (BMI) and chances for cancer.
In men 33 pounds of excess weight showed 52% increased risk for esophageal cancer, 33% for thyroid cancer, 24% for colon and kidney cancers.
In women 29 pounds of excess weight showed 62% increased risk for uterus and gall bladder cancer, 51% for esophagus cancer, 34% for kidney cancers.
Risks for blood and bone cancers are comparably low for both sexes.
The research doesn't yet clearly found the mechanism of how obesity leads to cancer. There are some hypotheses that sill need to be studied, but the most likely mechanism is that fat cells badly affect hormone regulation. This may increase risk of different types of cancer.
Source:
eMaxHealth 