Years overweight or obese increases cancer risk

A huge longitudinal study in the US, involving almost 74,000 women, has found that the more time a woman spends being overweight or obese over her lifetime, the higher the risk of her developing several forms of cancer.  This supports other evidence of a high body mass index being a large health risk factor in high-income countries, and for the first time looks at the cumulative impact of overweight on cancer in particular. The authors recommend that health professionals recognize the role of obesity management in cancer prevention.

Melina Arnold et al. Duration of Adulthood Overweight, Obesity, and Cancer Risk in the Women’s Health Initiative: A Longitudinal Study from the United States PLoS Medicine. Published: August 16, 2016

Once again, The Conversation has published a useful summary and overview of this research.