Teenage obesity raises cancer risk

London, June 16: Men who were overweight or obese as teenagers are more likely to die from cancer in later life, says a study.
Even losing weight during middle age did not appear to cut the extra risk of developing lung, skin, kidney and prostate cancers, the Daily Mail reported Thursday, citing the study.
It said men who were overweight as teenagers were 35 percent more likely to die from cancer compared to those who had a healthier weight. The study looked only at men, but women are likely to run a similar risk, the Mail said.
British experts studied about 20,000 men in the study. Conducted by Medical Research Council (MRC) researchers in collaboration with University College London and Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, the study analysed medical records of 19,593 male graduates who attended Harvard between 1916 and 1950.
Higher body mass index (BMI) - the scoring system of weight related to height - had been linked to several cancers, but always in later life, said researcher Linsay Gray of MRC.
"It is very interesting that higher BMI at age 18 actually leads to a greater risk for cancer than higher BMI in middle age," the Mail quoted Gray as saying.
The link between teenagers who were overweight and later cancer was particularly strong for lung, skin, oesophageal, kidney, bladder, prostate and testicular cancers, the study said. The amount of smoking by men at 18 or physical activity did not affect later cancer risk, it said.
However, Gray said it was unclear how early obesity could trigger cancer decades later. As people with higher BMIs have a larger body size, there are more cells to potentially undergo the cancerous process, she said. (Agencies)


2011-06-16



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