Almost every child knows that smoking can cause cancer. However, very few are aware that obesity poses an increased risk of cancer.
Most people are familiar with obesity as one of the causes of metabolic diseases and orthopedic problems. However, according to one expert, the connection between severe obesity and cancer is greatly underestimated.
The topic affects more than half of Germans. According to the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden, 53 percent of all people in Germany over the age of 18 have a body mass index (BMI) of at least 25. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), people with a BMI of 25 are considered overweight, from a BMI of 30 as severely overweight and obese (obese). 16 percent of all Germans are affected.
Leptin promotes the development of tumors
«There is a clear correlation between obesity and cancer risk, which is scientifically very well documented,» said Jan Steffen Jürgensen, CEO of the Stuttgart Clinic, the German Press Agency in Stuttgart. The hormone leptin, which is formed in adipose tissue and intervenes in metabolic processes, is considered to be one of the factors favoring the development of tumors.
Study showed correlation with obesity in 17 tumor types
In addition to smoking, obesity is one of the most important preventable causes of cancer, emphasized the internist. For example, a long-term study of over five million people published by British researchers in the journal The Lancet in 2014 showed a correlation with obesity in 17 out of 22 types of cancer. This also applies to the comparatively common diseases of breast and colon cancer.
The long-term study also sees a connection between an increase in BMI and various abdominal cancers, such as uterine, gallbladder and kidney cancer. For every five kilograms per square meter increase in BMI, the risk of developing uterine cancer increased by 62 percent.
The more pronounced the obesity, the higher the risk of cancer. For example, if a woman who is 1.70 meters tall and weighs 72 kilos gains 15 kilos, the risk of uterine cancer increases 1.6 times, said Jürgensen, referring to the study. According to data from the Robert Koch Institute, this carcinoma is the fourth most common cancer in women with around 10,700 new cases each year.
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Population not sufficiently sensitized
According to a statement by DAK-Gesundheit on Wednesday, the public is largely unaware of this health hazard. In a survey in Baden-Württemberg on behalf of the health insurance company, only twelve percent of the more than 1,000 respondents saw a greatly increased risk, but 28 percent saw no risk in connection with morbid obesity. Jürgensen named exercise and a healthy diet as the key to reducing the risk.
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The DAK study also showed that significantly more than every second person in Baden-Württemberg (56 percent) considers themselves too fat. One in eight even thinks they are very overweight. For 46 percent of those surveyed, fat people are considered sociable. 36 percent find overweight people generally unaesthetic.