Is it possible that obesity will become the biggest cause of cancer??? The answer may be yes.
A recent study by Joseph Sparano, M.D at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine found
“that obesity at diagnosis of breast cancer is associated with about a 30 percent higher risk of recurrence and a nearly 50 percent higher risk of death.”
Researchers also discovered that as percent body fat increases, so do the rates of breast cancer, recurrence and death.
How does obesity increase the risk of developing cancer? What does excess body weight have to do with cancer, and why is being overweight even riskier for women?
In a nutshell, fat cells are factories for hormones and inflammation, both of which fuel the growth and development and the spread of breast cancer. (Although this study focused on breast cancer patients, research also shows that ovarian, endometrial, colorectal, prostate and pancreatic cancers are also linked to excess body fat.)
- Fat tissue makes estrogen which fuels hormone positive breast cancers.
- Fat tissue produces inflammation. Inflammation increases the development, growth and spread of cancer
- Fat tissue sends signals to the immune system, leading to decreased immune response.
- Fat tissue leads to changes in insulin sensitivity, leading to elevation in blood sugar, obesity, pre-diabetes and diabetes all of which increase your risk of breast cancer. Insulin plays a role in tumor growth.
- The higher the insulin blood levels in breast cancer patients, the greater the chance of death.
- Excess body fat is the most dangerous for women with hormone positive breast cancers, tumors with receptors for estrogen and progesterone (female hormones) and androgens (male hormones)
