Healthy weight can cut cancer risk

Being obese or overweight raises the risk of cancers of the breast, bowel, pancreas, kidney, womb, oesophagus and gall bladder.

Researchers in the United Kingdom maintain that excess fat is the second biggest cause of cancer – next to, of course, smoking.

Researchers from the World Cancer Research Fund said that an alarming 63 per cent of the population in the United Kingdom is either obese or overweight – one of the highest levels in Europe.

However, they also claimed that 18 per cent of the 123,000 weight-related cases of cancer in the United Kingdom could be prevented every year if only people maintained a healthy weight.

They also claim that 22,000 Britons suffer from cancer every year because they are too fat, according to a report in the Daily Mail newspaper.

Anyone with a Body Mass Index of 30 and above is classified as obese while 25 and above falls in the overweight category.
Calculate your body mass index.

Professor Alan Jackson, chairman of the fund’s continuous update project panel and professor of human nutrition at the University of Southampton, said: “A significant number of cancer cases could be prevented by people maintaining a healthy body weight.”

The fund is carrying out a study of existing research to determine how many cancers are caused by people’s lifestyles.

“Through keeping levels of body fat low, a lot of people will avoid getting cancer in the first place – forestalling the pain and anguish associated with the disease.”

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