Megan Rauscher, "High number of cancers due to obesity: study", Reuters
UK, November 1, 2005,
Link:
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2005-11
-01T215219Z_01_WRI178674_RTRIDST_0_HEALTH-HIGH-CANCERS-STUDY-DC.XML&archived=Fal
se

In the United States, roughly 10 percent of all cancers -- more than
100,000 cases a year -- could be avoided if overweight and obesity did
not exist, according to updated statistics on the proportion of cancer
due to obesity released Monday.

The new projections stem from a review of published studies, updates to
the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) report from
2002, and data from the Nurses' Health Study II, which includes 116,686
women, Dr. Graham Colditz explained at a press briefing at the American
Association for Cancer Research's international conference on Frontiers
in Cancer Prevention Research underway in Baltimore.

By applying the current US levels of overweight and obesity, Colditz
from the Harvard School of Public Health estimated that 14 percent of
colon cancers -- over 14,000 cases -- would be avoided if no one was
overweight or obese.

Likewise, if no one was overweight or obese, "we would avoid 11 percent
of breast cancer -- over 18,000 cases; 49 percent of endometrial
cancer, almost 20,000 cases; 31 percent of kidney cancer, over 11,000
cases; 39 percent of esophageal cancer, 5,500 cases; 14 percent of
pancreas cancers, 4,500 cases; 20 percent of non-Hodgkin lymphoma
cases, over 11,000 cases; and for multiple myeloma 17 percent of
cases," Colditz told reporters.

Given the increasing prevalence of obesity in the US, these estimates
are conservative, he said.

"We can clearly conclude that adult overweight and obesity cause
cancer," Dr. Colditz said, "and increasing rates of obesity in the US
are continuing to drive up the burden of these cancers."

The data, he added "reinforce the message to avoid weight gain as an
adult and to lose weight and keep it off if one is overweight or obese
as this can reduce the risk of cancer in addition to other chronic
diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke."

Evidence is accumulating that losing weight will reduce the risk of
cancer, Colditz also said, noting that data from four studies looking
at weight and breast cancer suggest that women who lose 5 to 20 pounds
significantly reduce their risk of developing breast cancer.