Metabolic Abnormalities Boost Obesity-Related Cancer Risk

In one of the first studies to examine this phenomenon, metabolically unhealthy obesity is associated with an increased risk, of around 1.5-fold higher, of any obesity-related cancer, and an even higher risk, of two- to threefold higher, for specific cancers, such as endometrial, liver, and renal cell cancers, compared with metabolically healthy normal weight. 

Even in people with so-called “metabolically healthy” obesity, the risk for overall obesity-related cancer is increased compared with normal-weight, metabolically healthy individuals; however, the associations here are weaker than in people with metabolically unhealthy obesity.

“The type of metabolic obesity phenotype is important when assessing obesity-related cancer risk,” lead researcher Ming Sun, PhD, from Lund University, Malmö, Sweden, told Medscape Medical News. “In general, metabolic aberrations further increased the obesity-induced cancer risk, suggesting that obesity and metabolic aberrations are useful targets for prevention.”

“This synergy means that when obesity and metabolic unhealth occur together, that’s particularly bad,” added Tanja Stocks, PhD, senior author, also of Lund University.

“But the data also highlight that even obesity and overweight alone comprise an increased risk of cancer,” Stock noted. To read the rest of the article head over to Medscape.com