Here is an interesting article linking incidences of cancer to increased BMI.
Article courtesy: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/286031.php
Author: David McNamee
Nearly half a million new cancer cases per year can be attributed to high body mass index, according to a new analysis conducted by researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer and published in The Lancet Oncology.
The new analysis finds that 3.6% of the total global cancer burden is linked with high BMI.
High body mass index (BMI) is known to be a risk factor for cancers affecting the esophagus, colon, rectum, kidneys, pancreas, gallbladder, breasts, ovaries and endometrium. The new analysis – which looked at data from 2012 – finds that 3.6% of the total global cancer burden is linked with high BMI, and that cancer due to overweight and obesity is far more common in developed countries than in less developed countries.
The most affected area remains North America, where an estimated 111,000 new obesity-related cancer cases emerged in 2012 – around 23% of the total global BMI-related cancer burden.
Europe also has a large cancer burden linked with overweight and obesity, with Eastern Europe accounting for 6.5% (65,000 cases) of all new European cancer cases.
The proportion of cancers associated with overweight and obesity in Asian countries is not as large, but due to population size, the authors note that “it still translates into a considerable absolute number of cases.”
For instance, although only 1.6% of China’s new cancer cases were found to be attributable to overweight and obesity, this still comprised 50,000 cancer cases in total.
The researchers compare this prevalence to the rates in Africa, where 1.5% of all new cancer cases were related to overweight and obesity, but the total number of cases in the entire continent was just 7,300 during 2012.
