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LA TIMES

Looking for ways to reduce your risk of cancer? Try losing weight.
A new study estimates that 3.6 per cent of cancers diagnosed around the world in 2012 could be traced to the excess weight of patients.
That works out to 481,000 cases of cancer in adults who were at least 30 years old, according to the report by the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lancet Oncology.
About 23 per cent of these cancers were diagnosed in North America, where the proportion of cancers that could be traced to people's extra weight was highest.
An additional 14 per cent of these weight-related cancers were diagnosed in East Asia, where the risk due to extra weight was low but the population so large that the patients added up.
In China, for example, about 50,000 cancer cases were associated with being too fat, accounting for 1.6 per cent of new cancer cases.
"The number of cancers linked to obesity and overweight is expected to rise globally along with economic development," said Christopher Wild, IARC's director.
The international research team found that countries with a "high" or "very high" human development index - a measure of a nation's wealth known as HDI - could blame a higher proportion of their cancers on extra weight than could countries with a "moderate" or "low" HDI.
In fact, the proportion of cancers linked to excess weight in the richest countries (5.3 per cent) was more than five times higher than the proportion for the poorest countries (1 per cent).
The researchers focused on nine types of cancer that have been linked with excess weight in previous studies.
These include cancers of the esophagus, colon, rectum, kidney, pancreas, gallbladder, uterus and ovaries, as well as postmenopausal breast cancer.
Patients were considered overweight if they had a body mass index of 25 or higher.
The researchers found that being overweight or obese raised the cancer risk much more for women than for men.
Overall, 5.4 per cent of the new cancers in women could be traced to high BMIs, compared with 1.9 per cent in men.
In women, the proportion of cancers linked to excess weight was highest in Barbados (at 12.7 per cent), the Czech Republic (12 per cent) and Puerto Rico (11.6 per cent); in men, the highest rates were seen in the Czech Republic (5.5 per cent), Jordan and Argentina (4.5 per cent) and the United Kingdom and Malta (4.4 per cent).
Postmenopausal breast cancers and uterine cancers accounted for about two-thirds of all new cancers linked to high BMI in women, while cancers of the colon and kidneys made up two-thirds of such cancers in men.
If the global population had not gotten fatter since 1982, roughly 118,000 cancers that were newly diagnosed in 2012 could have been avoided, the researchers calculated. That's almost 1 in 4 cancers that were found that year.
But the world did get fatter. And the situation is getting worse, not better.
"The continuation of current patterns of population weight gain will lead to continuing increases in the future burden of cancer," the researchers concluded.
Additional reporting by Reuters
 


	Calorie counts now a must on US menus in chain restaurants

The United States has announced sweeping new rules forcing chain restaurants and pizza parlours to publish calorie counts on menus in an attempt to combat the nation's obesity epidemic.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Tuesday chain restaurants and vending machines with 20 or more locations would be required to provide customers with full nutritional information about the food being sold. Similar rules have already been used for years in several US states and cities, such as California and New York.
"Americans eat and drink one third of their calories away from home and people today expect clear information about the products they consume," FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in a statement.
"Making calorie information available on chain restaurant menus and vending machines is an important step for public health that will help consumers make informed choices for themselves and their families."
Under the new rules, restaurants will be required to publish calorie information for all standards prominently on menus and menu boards. The menu labelling rule also includes food facilities at venues such as cinemas and amusement parks.
Agence France-Presse


Richest countries worst hit by obesity-fuelled cancer

The study found that being overweight was a bigger cancer risk for women than for men.

News

World

Disease is five times as likely to be linked to weight in wealthy countries, study finds; global economic development will make things worse


Looking for ways to reduce your risk of cancer? Try losing weight. A new study estimates that 3.6 per cent of cancers diagnosed around the world in 2012 could be traced to the excess weight of patients.
