Does being overweight or obese increase your risk of getting

1. Does being overweight or obese increase your risk of getting cancer?

2. Over the past few decades, the total percentage of overweight as well as obese children and adults has increased remarkably. Obesity is common associated with higher risks of some types of cancers, such as postmenopausal breast cancer, esophageal cancer, endometrial cancer, rectum and colon cancer, kidney cancer, thyroid cancer, pancreas cancer, gallbladder cancer, and many other types.

3. It is also a fact that obese people are at a higher risk of developing coronary heart diseases, high blood pressure, stoke, diabetes, and several chronic diseases.

4. Defining Obesity Obesity is defined as a condition in which an individual has abnormally higher level of body fat, which is unhealthy. In order to measure obesity, there has been a lot of research. Researchers, today, use the scale called Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI provides an accurate measurement of the body weight to determine whether a person is overweight or obese.

5. According to the Guidelines of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), adults over 20 can follow the category of BMI mentioned below: • BMI below 18.5 is considered Underweight • BMI between 18.5 to 24.9 is considered Normal • BMI between 25.0 to 29.9 is considered Overweight • BMI over 30.0 is considered Obese

6. There is a specific chart for adolescents and children, too, below 20 years of age, based on the BMI-for-age growth charts of the centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): • BMI-for-age more than 85 percentile, but lesser than 95 percentile is considered Overweight • BMI-for-age above 95 percentile is called Obese Compared to people with normal body weight, the ones who are obese or overweight are at an increased risk of many diseases, which includes high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers, and stroke.

7. Long-established Relationship between Obesity and Cancer Obesity has been commonly linked with higher risk of some types of cancers, and may be many others: • Esophageal cancer • Pancreatic cancer • Rectum and colon cancer • Breast cancer • Cancer of the endometrium (inner lining of the uterus) • Thyroid cancer • Kidney cancer • Gallbladder cancer

8. The Risks and Supporting Facts Fat tissues are likely to produce excess amount of estrogen, and higher levels of estrogen is associated with increases risks of endometrial, breast, and other types of cancers. Obese people usually have increases insulin levels as well as IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor-1) in blood – a condition called insulin resistance or hyperinsulinemia that may promote the growth of some tumors.

9. Fat cells can produce hormones, such as adipokines, which could stimulate or even inhibit growth of cells. For instance, leptin, an abundant hormone in people with obesity, promotes proliferation of cells, while adiponectin, a less abundant hormone in obese people, could have antiproliferative effects. Fat cells are also likely to have direct as well as indirect effects on the tumor growth regulators, which includes AMP-activated protein kinase and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR).

10. Obese people also have chronic lower level inflammation, also called “subacute”, which is linked to greater chances of causing cancer. There are other possible mechanisms, which include altered or changed immune responses, oxidative stress, and kappa beta system.