Obesity Responsible for 100,000 Cancer Cases Annually

Research is beginning to quantify that old saying that “we are our own worst enemy.”

A recent report from the American Institute of Cancer Research (AICR) states that excess body fat is a major cause of cancer. The AICR research looked at seven cancers know to have correlations with cancer and calculated the actual case counts that were likely to have been caused by obesity. The numbers in the study are shocking: 49% of endometrial cancers, 24% of kidney cancers, 28% of pancreatic cancers, 17% of breast cancers, and 9% of colorectal cancers.

Dr. Laurence Kolonel, Deputy Director of the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii and AICR/WCRF expert panel member, presented the new preventability estimates and noted that “We now know that carrying excess body fat plays a central role in many of the most common cancers,” and “it’s clearer than ever that obesity’s impact is felt before, during, and after cancer - it increases risk, makes treatment more difficult and shortens survival.”

29000 Men Comment
I am now going into my 7th year as a prostate cancer survivor and I’m watching my PSA bounce around at the .02, .06, .04 range. My doctors keep telling me not to worry, but I don’t believe I’m cured, and I still have that monkey on my back. Following my surgery in 2003, I went on a strict vegetarian diet and my weight dropped to 144 pounds, just 2 pounds more that when I graduated from college and went in the Army. Over the past two years, I gradually relaxed my diet and my weight increased to 154. My goal for 2010 is to return to my survival eating regime and lose that weight. After all, if the cancer returns, wouldn’t I be greatly to blame? In my business life I talk frequently about accountability. Well, this is pretty much the ultimate in personal accountability. My weight today was 154. Check my as I track my progress. If you want to begin exercising, consider bicycling. It’s a great sport.