Recent studies have proven that obesity is the cause of an increasing number of cancer related deaths. And obesity is still on the increase. It is expected that the credit crunch will actually increase the number of obese in America and the UK.

It is estimated that cancer will affect twice as many people by 2050. Prof. Martin Wiseman, from the World Cancer Research Fund, said that after not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight is the most important thing you can do to help to prevent cancer.

However, these results are not new, as research published in 2003 revealed that being overweight or obese may account for 20% of all cancer deaths in US women and 14% in US men. At the time, that meant that 90,000 cancer deaths could be prevented each year if Americans maintained a normal, healthy body weight. (Source: Cancer.org) Since 2003 rates of obesity have risen further.

In 2007 research by the U.S. National Cancer Institute revealed that obesity can double a man’s risk of dying from prostate cancer. Men with a BMI of 35 or higher had twice the risk of dying from prostate cancer as men with a BMI of less than 25.

“The growing prevalence of obesity in Western countries is alarming, and reducing the risk of prostate cancer death is only one among many health reasons to maintain a healthy weight through diet and exercise,” Dr. Wright, NCI Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.

Once again, the advice is clear - lose weight and get fit to live longer. Although this research is vital in finding cures and improving medicine to treat cancer, it is not actually providing anything fundamentally new with regards to the problems that a poor diet and being overweight can cause. The big question is really, how to we persuade a nation to lose weight and get fit? Are the scare tactics working on enough of the population to make a difference? In fact, are the people most at risk reading this?

Did you know?

By choosing a healthy diet and avoiding alcohol you could reduce your risk of the following cancers:

bowel
breast (in post menopausal women)
mouth, pharynx and larynx
oesophagus
stomach
lung
pancreas
prostrate