How is Obesity Related to Cancer?

Obesity – An Overview

Obesity is the abnormal condition that causes a person to put on excessive amounts of weight due to accumulation of fat in their body. This extreme weight causes a variety of other disorders and diseases as complications associated with it.

Along with various serious medical disorders, such as high blood pressure, onset/worsening of diabetes, heart (cardiac) disorders, etc obesity has been found to be a main factor in causing a number of different cancers in the body as well.

What is the relation between Obesity and Cancer?

Various extensive medical research studies have shown a clear indication that being obese (overweight) often increases the risk of cancer development or the growth of an already existing cancer in the body.

These are the possible reasons that link obesity with cancer:

• Increased insulin levels
• Chronic, less-swollen is more common in obese people and is one of the common reasons for development of cancer
• Higher estrogen production due to fat tissue can increase the rate of development of certain cancers such as endometrial cancer and breast cancer
• Cancer cell growth process is affected by fat cells

Further studies have proven that a excess weight at the time of birth, gaining extreme weight as an adult or frequent fluctuation in weight can also increase the risk for cancer.

Maintaining a healthy weight and good overall health can help lower the risk of cancer (or even cancer) considerably.

What are the types of Cancer related to Obesity?

These are the various types of cancers that are found to have strong links for development due to obesity:

• Uterine
• Breast
• Colorectal
• Head and neck
• Kidney (renal)
• Pancreatic
• Esophageal
• Endometrium (uterine lining)
• Prostate
• Thyroid gallbladder

How to determine Obesity?

The method of measuring obesity is usually done using the Body Mass Index (BMI in short), which is the ratio of a person’s height and weight as well as the measurement of the waist.

Normally a healthy BMI is considered to be between 18.5 and 24.9.

BMI between 25 and 29.5 is called as being ‘overweight’ while a BMI of 30 or more is considered to be ‘obese’.

Normal waist measurement for adult males is less than 40 inches while for adult females it is under 35 inches.

How to avoid Obesity and related Cancer?

In order to control the continuous weight-gain you need to aware of the daily amount of food consumption as well as getting in the habit of performing physical exercises regularly.

Every meal you have should consist of a healthy choice of foods and drinks. These are a few tips that help to maintain a healthy BMI and to reduce the risk of development of cancer:

• Eat more vegetables, lean protein, fruits and whole grains in your diet
• Limit high-sugar containing foods and drinks such as soda and juice
• Consume only the required amount of calories you need and avoid overeating
• Follow a regular exercise regimen that involves at least 30-60 minutes of intense physical exercises

If you are already overweight it is highly advised to start taking immediate steps towards losing weight and maintaining it at healthier level. Always aim to lose the first 5-10% of the excessive weight as the faster result will motivate you to lose additional remaining weight more easily.

Certain changes and practices can also help to lower you weight, such as:

• Lifestyle Changes – The decrease in the amount of food consumed daily and the increase in physical activity through vigorous exercises are ideally considered before choosing a weight-loss treatment.
• Behavioral Changes – Support from family and lived ones can help to a large extent in motivating a person to lose weight and become healthy in general.
• Medications – Weight-loss assisting medicinal drugs are mostly prescribed when the other alternative methods (dieting, physical exercises) have been unsuccessful in helping to decrease the excessive body weight or if the obesity is causing other medical disorders.
• Surgery – This is usually recommended for extremely obese persons (BMI of 40 and higher) or whose obesity is resulting in development of various complications and other medical disorders due to excess body weight.

Obesity is known to be one of the main reasons that contribute towards the development of certain cancers. It is therefore highly advisable to get prompt and effective treatment for obesity in order to avoid the various complications as well as the different type of cancers it causes.

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