Obesity Decreases Women Chances of Surviving Cancer

Being too fat for just one year greatly decreases women’s lifelong chances of surviving cancer, a major study has revealed.

Women, if diagnosed with breast or bowel cancer as an adult, their risk of dying are increased up to 4% percent for every 12 months spent as obese or overweight.

This study is the first to show how having a higher Body Mass Index (BMI) than 25 can also slash survival rates.

The World Cancer Research Fund tracked the weight of 47,000 women at the age of 20 and 50.

About 1,500 of them developed breast or bowel cancer after menopause.

The Swedish researchers discovered that a woman's rates of surviving bowel cancer are slashed by 4% and the rate of surviving breast cancer are slashed by 3% a year due to being overweight.

They compared the time spent as “overweight” as equivalent to “years of smoking cigarette”.

Study author Dr. Isabelle Soerjomataram, of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, said: “While previous studies have shown an association between being overweight and developing cancer, very little is known about how it impacts your chances of surviving cancer.”

“Our research shows that effective prevention of overweight and obesity must begin at an early age,” she added.

Excess body fat sends out signals telling cells to split more often and causes damage to building up.

Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health, according to WHO's organization website.

A crude population measure of obesity is BMI, a person’s weight (in kilograms) pided by the square of his or her height (in meters).

A person with a BMI of 30 or more is generally considered obese. A person with a BMI equal to or more than 25 is considered overweight.

Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer.