Obesity Competing with Smoking as Leading Cancer Cause

It is no secret that being overweight increases your risk for numerous health problems. Recent studies are now producing clinical evidence that link obesity and excess body fat to certain types of cancer. Researchers are identifying obesity as a specific cause for a significant number of cancer deaths in both genders. Some are even stating that up to 35% of cancer cases are the result of nutritional factors, including obesity.

Of course, as this research becomes more and more popularized, the more lose weight quick products we see on the market. However, just as the war on cancer is not being won through the use of conventional medicine, neither is the war on obesity being won through media advertising that suggests weight loss can be accomplished through the popping of a pill or the drinking of a chemical-laden shake. It dismays me to walk into many health food stores and see two to three aisles devoted to weight loss supplements and powdered drinks. There is no magic bullet for weight loss. Instead, it is about completely changing a lifestyle that has not worked. Sadly, for most people this seems to big of a price to pay, that is, until they get sick.

As the number of smokers decreases, at least in the Western world, tobacco use is getting a fight for its money as the leading cause of cancer. In fact, if all of the lifestyle factors that contribute to cancer were taken into consideration, such as the SAD diet, lack of exercise, and unmanaged stress, a case could easily be made that these issues are truly the number one trigger for cancer and most other debilitating diseases. It is good news that smoking rates are decreasing, but until society gets the picture and begins to understand that a lifestyle of wellness is the only way to defeat disease, conditions such as cancer will continue to flourish. Being examples in our own homes by teaching our children a healthy lifestyle is the best way to begin turning around the epidemic of obesity and other unhealthy patterns that are currently ravaging American families.


Weight gain hikes risk of many cancers
New research links obesity to a dozen different types of the disease
The Associated Press Feb. 14, 2008

LONDON - Being obese or even overweight may increase a persons risk of developing up to a dozen different types of cancer, European researchers report in a new study.

Doctors have long suspected a link between weight gain and certain cancers, including colon and breast cancers. But the new study, published Friday in the journal Lancet, suggests it could also increase chances for cancer of the esophagus, thyroid, kidney, uterus and gall bladder, among others.

While the study suggests a link, there is no definitive proof that being fat in itself causes cancer.

To make the link between cause and effect, we need to tick several boxes, said Dr. Andrew Renehan, the studys lead author and senior lecturer at the School of Cancer Studies at the University of Manchester. This study begins to tick the first two or three boxes, but more research is needed to confirm it.

The researchers compiled data from 141 studies and considered more types of cancers and more diverse populations than had been done previously. The research covered more than 280,000 cases from North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

The subjects, both overweight and normal weight, were followed for about nine to 15 years, with researchers tracking their body mass index, or BMI - a calculation based on weight and height - and correlating it with incidents of cancer.

In men, an average weight gain of 33 pounds increased the risk of esophageal cancer by 52 percent, thyroid cancer by 33 percent, and colon and kidney cancers each by 24 percent, the research found.

In women, a weight gain of 29 pounds increased the risk of cancer in the uterus and gall bladder by nearly 60 percent, esophagus by 51 percent and kidney by 34 percent, the study said.

The link was weaker for bone and blood cancers, for both men and women.

In Asian populations, there appeared to be a stronger link between increased BMI and breast cancer, the study said.

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, who was not involved in the study. It also highlights the cancer crisis we face as obesity rates increase worldwide.

Scientists are unsure how being overweight could make people more susceptible to cancer.

One of the hypotheses is that the presence of excess fat cells could affect the levels of hormones in your body, Renehan said. At a cellular level, that may favor the development of tumors in humans.

Because many studies have found that fatter people are more likely to get cancer, experts often recommend losing weight to reduce cancer risk.

The simple message is that, if you manage to keep a healthy body weight, you will have a lower risk of developing cancer, said Ed Yong, of Cancer Research United Kingdom.

The Lancet study was paid for by British Medical Association, the University of Manchester and the University of Bern, Switzerland. Renehan has consulted for several pharmaceutical companies that make hormone replacements.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23170572/