Obesity and Cancer Connection
Recent research data shows that about 10% of all cancers are obesity related. That means that about 100,000 cases of cancer are directly related to patients being overweight or obese.
Dr Colditz, from the Harvard School of Public Health, released these figures at a press conference during the American Association for Cancer Research’s international conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research several years ago.
The figures are derived from a review of published studies and reinforce the message that overweight and obese individuals are more likely to develop cancer, as well as other chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. “We can clearly conclude that adult overweight and obesity cause cancer and increasing rates of obesity in the US are continuing to drive up the burden of these cancers,” Dr Colditz said.
Dr Colditz elaborated on these figures by stating the percentages and numbers of individual types of cancer that would be avoided if no-one were overweight or obese are:
* 14% of colon cancers (14,000 cases)
* 11% of breast cancer (over 18,000 cases)
* 49% of endometrial cancer (almost 20,000 cases)
* 31% of kidney cancer (over 11,000 cases)
* 39% of esophageal cancer (5,500 cases)
* 14% percent of pancreas cancers (4,500 cases)
* 20% of non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases (over 11,000 cases)
* 17% of multiple myeloma cases
