Half Million Cancers a Year Tied to Obesity

Nearly half a million cancers worldwide each year are linked with excess weight, a new study estimates. The study was based on 2012 cancer data. Researchers looked at 184 countries. They found there were 481,000 obesity-related cancers that year. That’s about 3.6% of all cancers in the world. About 2 out of 3 occurred in North America and Europe. In developed nations, about 8% of cancers in women were linked with obesity. The rate was 3% for men. In developing nations, rates were 1.5% for women and 0.3% for men. Cancers of the breast, uterus and colon among older women accounted for 250,000 cases. That was nearly three-quarters of all obesity-related cancers among women. Nearly 90,000 cases among men were colon and kidney cancers. They accounted for more than two-thirds of the obesity-related cancers among men. Rates of obesity-related cancers also varied by country and by region.