Does obesity increase cancer risk?
The numbers of people who are overweight and even those who are becoming obese continue to rise every year. With all of the health risks that go along with obesity, it seems that people who work much harder to keep that extra weight off. However the average adult’s diet today along with a much more sedentary lifestyle than our ancestors had even 50 years ago, gaining weight is a very real concern for everyone, adult and child alike.
So what exactly are the health risks that are involved with obesity? Unfortunately being obese can lead to some very serious health conditions, which now even include cancer and premature death!
A person who is overweight or obese is much more likely to succumb to many disease processes. One of the most common diseases that arise from obesity for adults and children who are overweight is type II diabetes. This was recently seen as a disease only found in adults. Now with the number of children being obese rising every year the numbers of children and teenagers with type II diabetes is continuing to rise every year as well. Obese children are very likely to become overweight adults. This can shorten their lifespan severely as they will be much more likely to develop serious chronic health conditions that plague those who are overweight at an even earlier age.
One problem that is common with most obese people is high cholesterol levels. This condition makes them much more at risk of developing circulatory diseases and heart disease. They are also more likely to develop a heart attack or stroke. Additional issues that obese people may have to consider are the very real risks of developing atherosclerosis, arteriosclerosis, and hypertension.
Now clinical research has shown that people who are obese are at higher risk to develop cancer than their counterparts who have healthy weights and lifestyles. The study revealed that people who were overweight ran a much higher risk of developing cancer of the colon, breast, endometrial, esophagus, pancreas, gallbladder and the kidney. This also held true for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myelomas.
Another study was conducted and published by the American Cancer Society and was performed starting in 1982 and ending in 1998. This study revealed that men who were overweight or obese contracted cancer and their risk of premature death were 52% higher than men of normal weight at that time. The same study found that women in had cancer caused death rates which were 62% higher for cancer death than women who were of normal weight.
People who are either extremely overweight or obese are at a much higher risk of having complications from surgery performed to remove cancerous tumors. These people have many more respiratory and heart problems which make them high risk for general anesthesia. They also are more sedentary and do not generally circulate blood very well. This makes them less likely to heal from their wounds quickly. They stand an increased rate of their wounds not healing properly as well as having problems with the skin growing back together in and around the suture area. People who are obese are much more likely to have a surgical wound which will not come back together properly and may perforate or come apart due to the added stress of all the additional fatty tissues that have to heal underneath the skin first. These people frequently require some type of additional wound care and ongoing therapy for these types of procedures in order to get any type of surgical wound to heal.
Being obese puts a person at risk of many life threatening disease processes. People should work with their medical professional to find a program for them that can afford them a way to reduce their weight and improve their health issues.
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