Recent research highlights the significant correlation between obesity and cancer, with nearly half of all cancer cases attributed to excess weight, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle through exercise and diet regulation, as per findings reported by Sweden’s Lund University.
Conducted over approximately 40 years, the study observed 4.1 million participants, closely monitoring their weight and lifestyle choices. During this period, over 332,000 cancer cases were detected.
The study revealed that 40 percent of these cancer cases demonstrated a clear association with obesity. Researchers identified a total of 32 types of cancer linked to excess weight, a substantial increase from the previously recognized 13 types. The comprehensive findings of this research will be presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Venice.
Significant implications for public health
The implications of the study are deemed significant for public health, according to the researchers. They noted, “Established obesity-related cancers accounted for 25 percent of all cancer cases in this study, and the proportion increased to 40 percent when potential obesity-related cancers were added.” Maintaining a healthy weight is emphasized as a potential preventive measure for a substantial proportion of cancer cases.
Professor Jason Halford, president of the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO), commended the study as a robust and large-scale analysis. He remarked, “As always, more research is needed but it reveals what many studying the links between cancer and obesity have suspected; that obesity is likely to be a risk factor for many more types of cancer than we had evidence for before.”