Cancer risk boosted by overweight

Written by Dr. H. P. Bustami

Sunday, 17 February 2008

Controlling overweight is a way to improve public health
Scientists from the university of Manchester (England) and Bern (Switzerland) investigated the coherence between overweight and cancer risk. They compared people with normal weight with persons with overweight. The study also considered different ethnic backgrounds. An alarming boost in breast cancer, cancer of kidney, cancer of the colon, skin cancer and uterine cancer could directly be correlated to overweigt.

An enhanced body-mass-index (BMI) also enhances the risk for different cancer types, depending on the sex, age and ethnic background of the persons. The study supports and extends the findings of the world cancer and nutrition congress ("Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective", www.dietandcancerreport.org"). The reasons for the boost still remain unknown in detail. But for the first time the different cancer types could be assigned to different person groups within the study.
These results nevertheless give clear evidence that reducing overweight of populations is a way to improve public health and reduce cancer diseases. This means lower costs for social and health systems in countries with an over supply with food.

Source:
Andrew G. Renehan, Margaret Tyson, Matthias Egger, Richard F. Heller, Marcel Zwahlen: Body-mass index and incidence of cancer: a systematic review and metaanalysis of prospective observational studies. Lancet 2008;371:569-78

No responsibility is taken for the correctness of this information. Please contact always your local doctor for medical questions.

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