Prostate cancer linked to abdominal obesity

Our Bureau
The Hindu
Thursday, February 10, 2005

ADIPOSE TISSUE in the human body comes in two types:
subcutaneous fat which is located just below the skin,
and visceral fat, which is located, unnoticed, below the
muscles surrounding our vital organs and which is much
more harmful than subcutaneous adiposity.

Abdominal obesity, also called as visceral fat, is the
fat found around our organs in the abdominal region and
is associated with increased danger of prostate cancer
say scientists in a recent issue of Obesity Research.

Predisposition

Although the mechanism(s) by which these complications
appear is still not known, in fact, visceral fat is
known, for example, to predispose to cardiovascular and
metabolic problems.

For a long time an increase in cardiovascular diseases,
diabetes, hypertension and some types of cancers has been
associated with abdominal obesity. Even if evidence
supports the idea that environmental factors, such as
western diet and life style, affect the incidence of the
disease until now, it has not been possible to establish
a relationship between prostate cancer and weight.

Pedro Von Hafe, Henrique Barros and colleagues from the
Faculty of Medicine of Porto and the Hospital of S?o
Jo?o, Porto, Portugal hypothesised that previous
inconclusive results, found when studying the
relationship between fat and prostate cancer, were due to
the fact that the existence of different types of adipose
tissue was never taken into account.

And different types of fat tissue, affect the body in
very different ways, because they possess different types
of metabolism that produce different biochemical
substances. In order to understand the contribution of
different types of adipose tissue to prostate cancer, the
researchers used computerised axial tomography, a
technique that employs advanced x-ray technology and
allows to distinguish, and individually measure,
different types of adipose tissue.

The team of scientists compared sixty-three prostate
cancer male patients with sixty-three healthy controls
from the same sex and ethnic background and with similar
age, height and weight.

It was found that higher quantities of visceral fat, but
not of subcutaneous fat, were associated with prostate
cancer.

Hypothesis corroborated

This result corroborates the researchers' hypothesis that
different fat have different effects in prostate cancer
incidence. The quantity of visceral fat, however, did not
correlate with the disease stage, indicating that once
established, other factors contribute to the evolution of
disease.

Different biochemical substances produced by each of the
adipose tissue, will affect the body in different ways.

The different results found between visceral and
subcutaneous fat, probably result from this fact.

Furthermore, contributing to the harmful effect of
visceral fat is the fact that this type of adiposity
tends to be metabolised by the liver into fatty acids and
released into the blood, which will ultimately lead to an
increase of blood insulin.

Insulin is known to be capable of inducing the growth of
cancerigenous cells, including cells from prostate
tumours.

More at:
http://www.hindu.com

Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti

Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust

Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org

The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate

The terrorist mission of Jesus stated in the Christian bible:

    "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not so send
peace, but a sword.
    "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in
law.
    "And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
- Matthew 10:34-36.

    o  Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
    o  If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
    o  Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to:  http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.