According to an article published in the Lancet medical journal, obesity has the potential to put people 'at greater risk of developing 10 of the most common cancers'. The study has arrived at this link through investigating the health of 5 million people which is an incredible number for a study. Additionally these people were monitored over an extended period of 7 years, which is very comprehensive in my opinion. It follows that I have increased confidence in the findings due to the sheer scale of the study - however it is always important to understand the study holistically before drawing conclusions.
It is fair to say that obesity can increase the risk of developing cancer in general with age. However what was unique about this study was that the size of a risk is dependent on the type of tumour. For example, the study found that cancer of the uterus carried the biggest risk when an individual becomes obese. Conversely leukaemia carried the lowest relative risk. Obviously men will not suffer from cancer of the uterus, so the biggest risk that is posed to obese men is gallbladder cancer, according to the study. Scientists from the London School of Tropical Medicine found that 'each 13-16 kg of extra weight an average adult gained was linked firmly and linearly to a greater risk of six cancers'.
Furthermore, a high Body Mass Index (BMI) has been linked to higher risk of the incidence of cancer of the liver, colon and ovaries just to name a few. However what was very peculiar is that the researchers found that an increased BMI seemed to be linked with a decreased risk in prostate cancer. Of course, this only displays a correlation which doesn't always necessarily indicate a causal link, nevertheless this statistic is intriguing. Despite the links to risks with BMI, one may assume these links are sufficiently linear. But according to Dr Krishnan Bhaskaran who led the research team, "There was a lot of variation in the effect of BMI on different cancers". An example he described was that the risk of cancer of the uterus increased 'substantially' with increased BMI however this link proved more 'modest' when looking at other tumour types.
So it is evident that scientists will need to investigate the causal mechanism behind the differences in increased risk. Dr Bhaskaran suggests that "BMI must affect cancer risk through a number of different processes, depending on cancer type". Although quite vague, this statement enforces that cancer is an area of research that will need to be fully understood in the coming years in order to cause medical advances in the scientific world.
Credit to Smitha Mundasad, BBC News Health Reporter for the original article. Read more on the subject here.
It is fair to say that obesity can increase the risk of developing cancer in general with age. However what was unique about this study was that the size of a risk is dependent on the type of tumour. For example, the study found that cancer of the uterus carried the biggest risk when an individual becomes obese. Conversely leukaemia carried the lowest relative risk. Obviously men will not suffer from cancer of the uterus, so the biggest risk that is posed to obese men is gallbladder cancer, according to the study. Scientists from the London School of Tropical Medicine found that 'each 13-16 kg of extra weight an average adult gained was linked firmly and linearly to a greater risk of six cancers'.
Furthermore, a high Body Mass Index (BMI) has been linked to higher risk of the incidence of cancer of the liver, colon and ovaries just to name a few. However what was very peculiar is that the researchers found that an increased BMI seemed to be linked with a decreased risk in prostate cancer. Of course, this only displays a correlation which doesn't always necessarily indicate a causal link, nevertheless this statistic is intriguing. Despite the links to risks with BMI, one may assume these links are sufficiently linear. But according to Dr Krishnan Bhaskaran who led the research team, "There was a lot of variation in the effect of BMI on different cancers". An example he described was that the risk of cancer of the uterus increased 'substantially' with increased BMI however this link proved more 'modest' when looking at other tumour types.
So it is evident that scientists will need to investigate the causal mechanism behind the differences in increased risk. Dr Bhaskaran suggests that "BMI must affect cancer risk through a number of different processes, depending on cancer type". Although quite vague, this statement enforces that cancer is an area of research that will need to be fully understood in the coming years in order to cause medical advances in the scientific world.
Credit to Smitha Mundasad, BBC News Health Reporter for the original article. Read more on the subject here.
No comments:
Post a Comment