KUALA LUMPUR: Being overweight or obese exposes an individual to a higher risk of contracting cancer, besides other chronic diseases, experts said yesterday.
Malaysian Nutrition Society president Dr Tee E Siong said excessive fat accumulation in the body increased the risk of getting cancer of the bowel, oesophagus, pancreas, kidney, endometrium (the inner lining of the uterus) and breasts.
“Women with weight problems would have a higher risk of breast cancer post menopause compared with those who maintain a healthy weight,” he said, quoting a World Cancer Research Fund report.
“Although we know that smoking increases the risk of oesophagus cancer, for example, how fat accumulated in certain parts of the body turns to cancer is not clearly known.
“But why take the risk of being a step closer to lifethreatening diseases? “Let’s practise healthy eating and living.” He said that when a group of 1,000 obese people were compared with the same number of those with a healthy weight, more from the first group suffered from chronic diseases, including cancer.
Dr Tee said when a person ate too much, the excess energy was stored as fat.
“Genes do play a role in causing a person to be overweight, but bad eating habits and a lack of physical activities are the major causes.” National Cancer Society of Malaysia chief executive and medical director Dr Saunthari Somasundaram said about 20 per cent of all cancers could be linked to obesity.
Dr Saunthari said: “Obesity is a co-factor in the development of cancer.
“It is not only about the weight; what we eat and how the food is prepared also contribute to this situation.” She said obese women had a 50 per cent chance of contracting breast cancer.
“Fat can store hormones that m ay lead to hormonal cancer.” Dr Saunthari said not all fat or obese people would develop cancer, only that the risk increased as they gained weight.
Read more: Too much fat can lead to cancer http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/Toomuchfatcanleadtocancer/Article/#ixzz1TwrOdjUV
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