Cancer News

“We’ve long known that being overweight isn’t healthy, but recent research has now definitively linked excess pounds to an increased risk of cancer. In the largest study of its kind, researchers with the American Cancer Society followed almost one million cancer-free men and women for 16 years. At the end of the study, people who were overweight or obese had a higher risk of dying from cancer than those of normal weight.

In both men and women, extra weight was linked to higher rates of death from cancer of the esophagus, colon, rectum, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, and kidney, as well as from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma. Heavier men also had a greater chance of dying from stomach or prostrate cancer while overweight women were more likely to die from cancer of the breast, uterus, cervix, and ovaries. Although it’s still unclear why excess pounds contribute to cancer, researchers point out that extra body fat raises levels of insulin in the blood and estrogen in women, which can both cause cancer cells to multiply (New England Journal of Medicine, April 24, 2003).

Comment: I think that this study gives overweight Americans one more reason to shed pounds, especially since researchers say losing weight could prevent about one out of every six deaths from cancer each year.”

Dr. Andrew Weil, Self Healing, June 2003

The Diet Solution. It Works.