The boys in overweight Adults are more at risk of developing colon cancer than those who are thinner. However, overweight boys who lose pounds and reach a healthy weight when they are young adults do not appear to have an increased risk of colon cancer, according to the results of a study presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO). The results underscore how important it is for children to maintain a healthy weight.
Colon cancer is the 4th most common cancer in adults, it kills 18,000 people a year in France. Previous research shows that overweight children have a higher risk of Colon Cancer in adulthood, but researchers were uncertain whether changes in body mass index (BMI) between childhood and adulthood alter this risk.
Researchers from Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen (Denmark) conducted a study with 61,000 young Danes born between 1939 and 1959 to examine how changes in BMI between childhood and adulthood alter the risk of colon cancer . The weight and height of the participants were measured at the age of 7 years, then between 17 and 26 years. Their BMI was also calculated when they were childrenthen when they were young adults. These young men were then linked to the Danish Cancer Registry and followed from the age of 40 to identify cases of colon cancer.
Losing weight reduces the risk of colon cancer
Over the 25 years of the study, more than 700 boys developed colon cancer. Analyzes showed that children who were overweight (BMI greater than 17.88 kg/m2) at age 7, but at normal weight (BMI less than 25.0 kg/m2) in adulthood, had a similar risk of colon cancer as adults who had always had a healthy weight.
On the other hand, the boys who stay in overweightare twice as likely to Colon Cancer.
“Overweight boys who lose weight and reach a healthy weight as adults do not have an increased risk of colon cancer compared to boys who have never been overweight. Unlike overweight boys who don’t lose weight. These results underscore the importance of weight management during childhood,” explains Dr. Britt Wang Jense, author of the study.
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