Obesity Linked to 13 Types of Cancer

Being overweight or obese increases the risk of at least 13 types of cancer, according to a review of more than 1,000 studies by a working group within the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Previous research had linked obesity to five types of cancer: adenocarcinoma of the esophagus, colorectal cancer, breast cancer in postmenopausal women, and uterine and kidney cancers.

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This new review, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, greatly expanded the list, as The New York Times and others reported. The potential cancers include: gastric cardia, a cancer of the part of the stomach closest to the esophagus; liver cancer; gallbladder cancer; pancreatic cancer; thyroid cancer; ovarian cancer; meningioma, a usually benign type of brain cancer; and multiple myeloma, a blood cancer.

Dr. Graham Colditz, chairman of the working group and professor of medicine and surgery at Washington University in St. Louis, said these 13 cancers together account for 42 percent of all new cancer diagnoses, according to The Times.

Obsesity became the most harmful environmental effect on health.

“Only smoking comes close,” Dr. Colditz said. “And that’s an important message … Obesity now goes to the top of the list of things to focus on.”

Limited evidence was found to conclude that obesity was linked to three additional types of cancer: male breast cancer, prostate cancer, and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the most common form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

No adequate evidence linked obesity with squamous-cell esophageal cancer, gastric noncardia cancer, cancer of the biliary tract, lung cancer, cutaneous melanoma, testicular cancer, urinary tract cancer, or glioma of the brain or spinal cord, according to The Times.

Animal studies suggest losing weight reduces the risk of cancer — so what does that mean for humans?

“It’s hard to study in humans because so few people lose weight and keep it off,” Dr. Colditz said. “But the priority of avoiding weight gain is the first thing we need to address.”

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