August 16, 2010
CDC releases report: Obesity connected to cancers
Increase in obesity rate will mean more cancers, experts warn
According to just-released figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2.4 million more Americans became obese between 2007 and 2009. Approximately 26.7 percent of the U.S. adult population, or 72.5 million people, are now obese. Experts at the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) said that this increase may result in a corresponding increase in the national cancer rate in years to come.
The AICR experts pointed out that those 72.5 million Americans face an increased risk for colorectal cancer, postmenopausal breast cancer, kidney cancer, esophageal cancer, endometrial cancer, pancreatic cancer and gallbladder cancer.
“Obesity plays a central role in many cancers,” said AICR Director of Research Susan Higginbotham, PhD, RD. “Its links to heart disease and diabetes are well-known, but Americans need to understand that more obesity today means more cancer tomorrow.”
AICR estimates that excess body fat causes about 103,600 cases of cancer in the United States every year. AICR warns that as the percentage of the population who are obese continues to increase, this number will rise.
The 103,600 estimate was calculated by combining projected cancer incidence for 2010 with data on the prevalence of obesity and its impact on cancer risk found in the AICR/WCRF report, Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention, released last year. That report estimated the percentage of various kinds of cancer that are attributable to such risk factors as poor diet, lack of physical activity and excess body fat.
According to AICR, the estimated number of U.S. cancers that are currently linked to excess body fat include:
49% of endometrial cancers = 21,300 cases/year
35% of esophageal cancers
= 5,824 cases/year
28% of pancreatic cancers = 12,079 cases/year
24% of kidney cancers
= 13,978 cases/year
21% of gallbladder cancers
= 2,050 cases/year
17% of breast cancers
= 35,540 cases/year
9% of colorectal cancers
= 12,831 cases/year
TOTAL:
103,602 cases/year
“It’s clearer than ever that efforts to prevent obesity also help to prevent cancer,” Higginbotham said. “The need for action has never been more urgent.”
Reprinted on August 9, 2010, courtesy of the American Institute for Cancer Research. For more information, please visit www.aicr.org.
Written by: thesilverclouddiet
Filed Under: Health, Silver Cloud Diet Blog, worried about today's news?
Tags: anti-obesity campaign, cancer, low carb diet, obesity, The Silver Cloud Diet, weight control
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Drew Kime
August 16, 2010 at 6:16 pm
“… attributable to …”
“… linked to …”
Sounds like it’s saying the same thing, doesn’t it? But let’s take a line from the recent China Study brou-ha-ha: Correlation does not equal causation.
Without seeing the methodology, which isn’t in the summary on the AICR site, it’s impossible to know if they describe causation or correlation. But the discussion around the China Study strongly suggests it’s merely correlation.
Besides that, three of their 10 recommendations are:
4. Eat more of a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes such as beans.
5. Limit consumption of red meats (such as beef, pork and lamb) and avoid processed meats.
7. Limit consumption of salty foods and foods processed with salt (sodium).
The first two are definitely wrong, and I’m skeptical of the salt recommendation. The history of salt guidelines seems to have a very similar trajectory to fat guidelines.
thesilverclouddiet
August 17, 2010 at 10:14 am
Drew you’re right. I would specify eating grass fed meats and wild caught fish, but never restricting those. But for factory farmed animals and fish, they’re right. And the salt restriction is pure balderdash.
And you are so right about correlation does not equal causation. This has always been sticky. I remember as a college kid learning the thing about the rise in the consumption of coca cola in 1948 being the same as the rise in polio cases. Did this mean coca cola caused polio? certainly not. But that’s what sloppy reporting gets to isn’t it. mea culpa