Obesity and Cancer

Being overweight for a longer duration increases the risk of developing several forms of cancer, according to a longitudinal study in PLOS Medicine, a Public Library of Science journal. This study is the first to examine the impact of being overweight or obese on the risk of cancer in a large cohort of postmenopausal women.

For every ten years they were overweight, the incidence of obesity-related cancers increased by seven percent, postmenopausal breast cancers increased by five percent and endometrial cancers increased by 17 percent. In addition, for every ten years women spent with a body mass index ten units above normal weight, these figure rose even higher to eight percent for postmenopausal breast cancer and 37 percent for endometrial cancer.

How much of their adult lives women are overweight and how overweight they are, play important roles in cancer risk and highlights the importance of prevention.

Read the full article at the link below:

Duration of Adulthood Overweight, Obesity, and Cancer Risk in the Women’s Health Initiative