The relation between Obesity and Cancer, Things you should know

When a person is overweight or obese, their body has more fat compared to other tissue and raises the risk of developing certain types of cancer, as well as risk for cancer returning back after treatment. In case you’re dealing with obesity and are concerned with how it affects cancer,  you need to understand what doctors and researchers mean by cancer risk. Not everyone who is overweight or obese will get cancer. Getting to know your risk of cancer can help you make better choices.

While research is still ongoing on the connection between body weight and cancer risk, the findings till indicate many reasons why weight may affect cancer risk.

Some of them are:

• More weight raises insulin levels and insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and excess amounts of this hormone helps some cancers develop.
• Fat tissue produces more of the hormone estrogen which can help breast cancer develop.
• Chronic, low-grade inflammation is more common in obese people (even more so if they have more belly fat) and that is linked to higher cancer risk.
• Fat cells affect the body’s ability to regulate cancer cell growth.

There are other changes in your weight over your lifetime that also affect the risk of cancer. Studies have shown the following factors may increase risk:

• Weighing more than average at birth
• Gaining weight in adulthood
• Losing and gaining weight and losing it back over and over

Maintaining a balanced diet, keeping your weight stable, and regular exercise lowers your cancer risk. If you are a cancer survivor, or looking for the best cancer treatment in Delhi, it doesn’t change the fact that making these healthy choices can lower the risk of cancer coming back (recurrence).

The cancers linked to being overweight or obese are breast, uterine, prostate, pancreatic, gallbladder, colorectal, thyroid, head and neck, and oesophageal cancer.

Eating well and staying active are the best ways to improve health, even more so if you are overweight or obese. Losing even 5 to 10% of total body weight can reduce your risk of developing cancer. It might seem like a small amount, but research has shown it improves your health. Even if you find it hard to lose weight, eating a  balanced diet and regular exercise helps lower your cancer risk.