A dozen would be linked to overweight, mainly those of the digestive or hormone-dependent organs.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Among the risk factors identified, obesity. The planetary epidemic participates, in fact, in the growing development of tumours. But the overweight could, in reality, have less weight than estimated so far. A meta-analysis, published in the British Medical Journal, suggests that the majority of studies are of questionable quality.
Before reaching this conclusion, the team from Imperial College London (United Kingdom) combed through 200 meta-analyses on the relationship between obesity and cancer, through several markers of overweight.
Of the 36 cancers analyzed in the literature, a significant link emerges in only 11 locations. These are mainly cancers of the digestive organs or hormone-dependent tumours. These two types of cancers are known to be strongly influenced by adiposity.
Target approaches
In detail, a strong association exists between the body mass index (BMI) and cancers of the oesophagus, marrow, or kidneys. For example, for every 5 points of BMI in addition, the risk of colorectal cancer increases by 9% and that of cancer of the bile ducts by 56%.
Depending on the gender, other locations may emerge. Thus, being overweight increases the likelihood of colon-rectal cancer in men and endometrial cancer in women. In the latter case, the risk increases by 21% for each 0.1 increase in the waist-hip ratio.
All these results should argue in favor of a personalized approach to excess weight, according to the authors. “It is now clear that preventing excess weight can reduce the risk of developing certain cancers, judges Dr. Kostas Tsilidis. He calls on health systems to invest more in prevention… but also on research teams to be more rigorous. Because the conclusion of the meta-analysis underlines it: too few works lead to a solid level of proof. Result: “substantial uncertainty persists for other forms of cancer. »
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