Obesity Increases Cancer Risk

Surprising? Not really. Increasingly, studies are indicating that obesity conveys more risk than simple heart attacks, strokes, polycystic ovarian syndrome and diabetes (insulin resistance). Now it is being recognized that obesity directly contributes to cancer risk as well. The correlation is striking for breast cancer and endometrial cancer but also is seen with…

Esophagus
Pancreas
Colon and rectum
Kidney
Thyroid
Gallbladder
Several others

“One study, using NCI Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data, estimated that in 2007 in the United States, about 34,000 new cases of cancer in men (4 percent) and 50,500 in women (7 percent) were due to obesity. The percentage of cases attributed to obesity varied widely for different cancer types but was as high as 40 percent for some cancers, particularly endometrial cancer and esophageal adenocarcinoma.” – http://www.cancer.gov

Scary huh? So how does it cause or contribute to cancer?

More body fat means you have more tissue than produces estrogens. These hormones directly increase the growth of tissues that are sensitive to them leading to cancer. This is especially seen with breast and uterine tumors.
Obesity causes insulin resistance and as a counter measure the body increases its production of Insuline Like Growth Factors (ILGFs). These also promote increased growth leading to tumors.
Obese people are often in a low level state of inflammation. Not enough to be noticed clinically but over time is believed to increase the incidence of tumors.