Obesity Increases Cancer Risk

Research suggests that there is a link between obesity and cancer risk. A study was conducted for The American Cancer Society by Dr. Eugenia Calle. Dr. Calle is the Director on Analytic Epidemiology, American Cancer society. Dr. Calle and her research team did a study of 900,000 adults that took place over 16 years.

The study evaluated the influence of excess body weight on cancer death risk. The study results suggest that increased body weight was linked to increased death rates from cancer.

The higher rates of death due to cancer was found in patients with Cancer of the esophagus, colon, rectum, liver, gallbladder, pancreas and kidney. There were significant risks from Cancer of the stomach and prostate in men. For women, there was increasing risk with cancers of the breast, uterus, cervix and ovary. The authors of the study estimated that overweight and obesity could account for 14 percent of all cancer deaths in men and 20 percent in women in the United States.

"These findings indicate that 90,000 cancer deaths in the United States could be avoided each year if individuals maintained a lifetime BMI of 25 or under." (bci.org.au).

The study also confirmed previous research that indicated that overweight was linked to occurrence of Cancer. This means that overweight puts a person at greater risk of getting cancer and of dying from it.

According to the book, What to Eat if You Have Cancer, written by Maureen Keane, M.S. and Daniella Chases, M.S. and published by McGraw-Hill, research shows a relationship between obesity and cancer risk. Researchers believe that fat cells act like hormone pumps. The fat cells pump hormones and other growth factors into the bloodstream. People who carry a lot of fat and who are not active appear to get more of this detrimental pumping. Constant growth of these cells to growth factors causes these cells to divide faster. This leaves the cells open to mutations that cause cancer.