It is well known that cancer is the one of the leading causes of death among Americans (second only to heart disease), but what exactly causes cancer? Studies show that the disease can be triggered by uncontrollable factors (such as genetics), but other data suggests cancer could be caused by diet and lifestyle choices. A new report out of Europe supports this data and states that obesity could be the number one cause of cancer in the coming years.
Currently, 8% of all cancers in Europe are caused by being overweight. Researchers expect this number to climb very quickly as other causes, such as smoking and hormone replacement therapy, drop dramatically.
- "Obesity is catching up at a rate that makes it possible it could become the biggest attributable cause of cancer in women within the next decade," said Andrew Renehan, a cancer expert at the University of Manchester. Renehan presented his findings to a joint meeting of the European Cancer Organisation and the European Society for Medical Oncology in Berlin on Thursday.
Using a model designed to estimate the number of cancers that could be caused by obesity in 30 European countries, Renehan and colleagues calculated that in 2002, 70,000 cases of cancer (out of about 2 mil overall) were due to being overweight. By 2008, this number increased to at least 124,000.
While experts aren't sure just why excess weight leads to cancer, they believe it may have to do with the abundance of hormones being released (such as estrogen) and their ability to make tumors grow in size. Those with larger bellies also have a higher amount of stomach acid, which can lead to stomach, intestinal or esophageal cancer.
Among the cancers linked to obesity are colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and endometrial cancer - which accounted for 65% of all cancers linked to being fat. Renehan found that in the US, up to 20% of all cancers are because of our being overweight.
- "Being overweight or obese is likely to be one of the biggest single causes of cancer after smoking," said Lucy Boyd, an epidemiologist at Cancer Research United Kingdom who was not linked to the research.
Though experts don't think obesity will be as high a cause of cancer as say, smoking, the research team is still hoping this data will help shape future government policies.
- "We need to find the biological mechanism to help people find other ways of tackling obesity," said Renehan. "Just telling the population to lose weight obviously hasn't worked."
via AP
