Obesity major cause of cancer in Europe
obesity, is not only putting people at risk of heart problems and
diabetes but also of cancer.
Today's fast food eating sedentary lifestyle which leads to obesity, is not only putting people at risk of heart problems and diabetes but also of cancer, reports British newspaper The Guardian.
The report focuses on a review in the Lancet's cancer journal, Lancet Oncology which finds that the more excess weight men and women put on, the more their chances increase of getting certain types of cancer.
As weight increases, so does the risk of breast cancer, cancer of the womb lining, and colon, kidney and oesophageal cancers.
An editorial in the journal warns that the obesity epidemic threatens a public health crisis. The WHO is calling for affluent countries such as the UK to try harder to alter people's attitudes so they understand the need to keep their weight down.
Review authors Franca Bianchini, Rudolf Kaaks and Harri Vainio, of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), at Lyon in France, said governments, schools, employers, the media and others, should all play a part in changing the environment so that people are less prone to getting fat.
"Avoidance of weight gain should become one of the mainstays of chronic disease prevention in modern societies," wrote the authors.
The scientists said about 40 per cent of endometrial cancers, close to 25 per cent of kidney cancers and about 10 per cent of breast and colon cancers would not develop if people kept their weight within the normal range.
Each year within the EU, obesity is responsible for 35,000 new cases of cancer, according to the team.The scientists said that the relationship between fat and cancer suggests that excess calories may be a big problem. They also blamed a lack of exercise.
