Obesity – An Epidemic Associated with Cancer
According to major studies, being obese increases an individual’s risk in various types of cancers. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer have confirmed that over 124,000 cases of cancer being diagnosed have been associated with obesity.
“Obesity could be one of the biggest causes of cancer after tobacco,” said an epidemiologist at a cancer research facility in United Kingdom.
An abnormally high and unhealthy proportion of body fat defines a person belonging to obese class. A formula based on weight and height, known as Body Mass Index (BMI), is commonly used by researchers to measure obesity. Studies show that patients having a BMI score greater than 35 has a ninety-five percentage rate of cancer recurrence, whereas seventy-five percent of these obese patients have died compared with the fifty-two percent of patients having a BMI score of less than 35.
The types of cancers being linked to obesity include colorectal cancer, breast cancer in menopausal women, and endometrial cancer; thus, accounted for the 65 percent of the total percentage rate of such linkage.
Scientists are not sure as to why being fat promotes the risks in getting cancer. Suspicion about its connection with the hormones has arisen because as individuals become fatter, hormones are being produced – estrogen, for instance, helps in the growth of tumors. People with bulging bellies, whose stomachs have more acid, have high risks of developing stomach, intestinal or esophageal cancer.
According to American Cancer Society, more than half a million people have been expected to die of cancer over the past year. Cancer statistics are interwoven with obesity statistics in complex and confusing ways. People who trim their diets and eat healthy foods appear to be less likely to contract diseases; but there are also exceptions. Just because these people appear healthy doesn’t mean they are relieved of developing cancer cells. Healthy people can still be likely to develop cancer; however, the percentage possibility rate is low in comparison to those who have been classified as obese.
There are studies being conducted, which show that weight-loss surgery can help women reduce their risk of cancer. It has been emphasized that only women are being addressed with the beneficial effects of such surgery. Based on the study, the surgery did not appear to have effects on men. Analysis suggests that there had been no direct link with the losing of weight or the reduction of food intake in the decrease of cancer risks. However, the cutting of weight through surgery reduces the amount of hormone-producing fat cells in the body; thus, the estrogen in female sex hormone is the culprit. In obese men, most common types of cancer are not so hormone-sensitive. These suggest why weight-loss surgery is known beneficial to women only.
Obesity is the result of poor diet and lack of exercise. Excuses on the lack of exercise (e.g. no time) can be acceptable. However, excuses on poor diets can never be acceptable. Reduction of cancer risk can be done with dietary tweaks.
Furthermore, what you drink may somehow add up to that bulges in the tummy area. Paying attention to what you drink and reducing the everyday liquid calorie intake can lead to a greater success in losing weight.
Obesity is therefore, a preventable leading cause of cancer. Thus, cancer issues will trim down as the epidemic on obesity decreases.
