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Obesity and cancer – the risk varies with gender
It seems that there is a close link between the risk of developing certain forms of cancer and an increase in our body mass index or BMI. Of course the link between obesity and cancer is nothing new.
But now British researchers have managed to assess the risks more precisely. And the results seem to be quite different depending on whether you are a man or a woman. Researchers in Manchester, Great Britain, combined the results of 141 studies published on the subject. This enabled them to establish a cohort of more than 280,000 cancer sufferers.
In men, they showed that a 5kg/m2 rise in BMI increased the risk of developing oesophageal cancer by 52%, thyroid cancer by 33% and bowel and kidney cancer by 24% each. In women, on the other hand, it was the endometrium and the biliary vesicle that were mainly affected, with an increased risk of 59%. Next comes the oesophagus with a 51% increase and the kidney with a 34% increase. These epidemiological observations could serve as the basis for further studies exploring the biological mechanisms linking obesity to these forms of cancer.
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11 article(s)
Obesity and cancer – the risks vary with gender
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