How losing weight can help reduce your risk of 13 types of cancer
MAINTAINING a healthy weight can help reduce your risk of 13 different types of cancer, experts have claimed.
More than one in 20 cancer cases are caused by excess weight with the risk of the disease developing the longer you remain overweight, studies have shown.
Obesity is one of the leading, preventable causes of cancer in the UK, according to experts.
And there are 13 different cancers thought to be linked to carrying excess weight.
They are:
- Breast cancer
- Bowel cancer
- Pancreatic
- Oesophageal
- Gallbladder
- Womb
- Ovarian cancer
- Kidney
- Liver
- Upper stomach
- Myeloma (a type of blood cancer)
- Meningioma (a type of brain tumour)
- Thyroid
Martin Richardson, medical director and weight loss surgeon at Transform Hospital Group said more than a quarter of the UK population is living with obesity.
Twelve per cent of participants said they had put on 6kg (just under a stone at 13lbs).
Mr Richardson told The Sun that while being overweight doesn't mean you will develop the disease, it does mean you are at higher risk than if you are a healthy weight.
He said: “Although the exact mechanisms are not fully understood, obesity leads to hormonal imbalance exacerbated by excess fat sending growth type hormones (signals) to the rest of the cells in our bodies telling them to grow.
"These changes also stimulate an immune reaction that leads to low grade inflammation.
"Both of these can cause cells to divide more quickly which can, in turn, increase the likelihood of cancer."
According to Mr Richardson, being "significantly overweight" has well recognised dangers.
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Not only, he said, can it increase the chance of cancer but it also substantially increases the risk of developing health problems such as diabetes, heart problems and strokes.
Mr Richardson also added: “Although coronavirus is currently preoccupying the thoughts of society and healthcare professionals, we should not lose sight of obesity being recently highlighted by the World Health Organisation as ‘the greatest health challenge of the 21st century’.”