Weight gain as adult increases cancer risk by up to five times, research shows
Gaining weight as an adult increases the risk of cancer by up to five times, according to research involving more than 600,000 patients.Obesity can cause 13 different cancers and is thought to be linked to another eight.But less is known about the impact on cancer risk of the amount of weight put on – and when in life it is gained.To find out, researchers at Lund University in Sweden analysed weight and cancer incidence data from more than 600,000 men and women and found there was no safe age to get heavier.The study, presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, measured the weight of more than 250,000 men and just under 380,000 women an average of four times between the ages of 17 and 60.
It also tracked their cancer diagnoses until 2023.The authors found that increased cancer risk – both overall and for many specific cancer types – was associated with heavier initial weight in early adulthood as well as weight gained during adulthood.Anton Nilsson, lead author and an associate professor at Lund, said: “The higher the starting weight and the greater the weight gain, the higher the cancer risk tended to be.”Men who became obese before the age of 30 had a five times higher risk of liver cancer, double the risk of pancreatic cancer and kidney cancer, and a 58% increased risk of colon cancer than those who remained slim.Women who developed obesity before the age of 30 were at a four-and-a-half times increased risk of endometrial cancer, a 67% higher risk of pancreatic cancer, double the risk of kidney cancer and a 76% increased risk of meningioma than those who never became obese.
For those who put on weight later in life, there were gender differences.For women, putting weight on after the age of 30 was strongly associated with increased relative risks of endometrial cancer, postmenopausal breast cancer and meningioma – cancers for which sex hormones are considered a primary causative factor.Colon cancer was also strongly linked to female weight changes.Among men, the associations with obesity-related cancers were instead stronger for weight gains below the age of 45, most clearly for oesophageal and liver cancer.Nilsson said this was “perhaps because earlier weight gain allows more time for biological processes such as inflammation and raised insulin levels to act on susceptible tissues”.
Those who put on the most weight (an average of 32kg [5 stone]) were 7% more likely to develop cancer than those who gained the least – an average of 8kg.Men who gained the most weight were nearly three times more likely to develop liver cancer and more than twice as likely to develop oesophageal cancer than those who put on the least.They also had three times the risk of pituitary tumours and a more than 50% increased risk of renal cell carcinoma, gastric cardia and colon cancers.Women who gained the most weight had nearly four times the risk of endometrial cancer and double the risk of pituitary tumours as well as a significantly higher risk of renal cell carcinoma (91%), postmenopausal breast cancer (42%), meningioma (32%) and colon cancers (31%).Even those who gained lower amounts of weight still had a higher risk of developing cancer, the study found, underlying the need to keep excess weight off.
‘‘While our results do not speak to any specific interventions or behaviours, they highlight the importance of maintaining a stable, healthy weight throughout adult life,” Nilsson added,Responding to the findings, Megan Winter of Cancer Research UK said: “Overweight and obesity is the second biggest cause of cancer in the UK,The government should do more to help people find it easier to keep slimmer,“Further measures to restrict the advertising and promotion of junk food, introduce mandatory reporting on healthy food sales, and make nutritious food more accessible to everyone could all help reduce obesity rates and improve health across the country,”
‘I’m unique’: Dyson Daniels on his NBA niche, missing three-pointers… and investing tips
He is a shooting guard that doesn’t often shoot. A wing deployed less for lift than pressure. The style of Australia’s best basketballer, Dyson Daniels, is difficult to describe. “It’s kind of hard for me to describe it too,” he says. “It’s unique
The Spin | ‘We have a hoot on the field’: Oswestry CC boasts 10 mother-daughter pairs
Women and Girls section has built strong family dynamic since launching in 2018 – and embraced Wags monikerThe acronym Wags first entered popular consciousness in 2006 during England’s football World Cup adventures in Baden-Baden. Victoria Beckham, Cheryl Tweedy and the gang became a sneering tabloid obsession, their matching outfits, nightclub antics and hair extensions gleefully picked apart.Twenty years later, a very different set of Wags are causing a stir at Oswestry Cricket Club on the north Shropshire-Wales border. The thriving Women and Girls section (WaGs) has an astonishing 10 mother and daughter pairs who have played competitive cricket together, ranging from 12 years old to 67.The oldest member is the irrepressible Jools Payne, team manager and founding player
How will the liberal Masai Ujiri handle leading the ultraconservative Dallas Mavericks?
On its face, the fit between Masai Ujiri and the Dallas Mavericks is perfect. “It’s almost like a match made in heaven,” Ujiri said after being introduced as the franchise’s president of basketball operations and alternate governor last week. “Every single one of us in this world is chosen for something special, and we just have to find it,” he added. “And I found basketball.”Since he became the first African to run a major sports franchise in the United States as the general manager of the Denver Nuggets in 2010, Ujiri has accomplished everything
World’s No 1 disabled golfer Kipp Popert: ‘The best need to play for a living. The sport has stopped’
Kipp Popert is a man on a mission. The 27-year‑old Englishman, who tops the disabled world rankings, uses one word a lot: “opportunity”. Popert was “shocked” to hear from the DP World Tour that its G4D circuit, which staged a handful of tournaments per year for disabled players between 2022 and 2025, has been placed into cold storage.The G4D Open, a tournament for 80 golfers with disabilities, will be staged at Celtic Manor from Thursday. It takes place thousands of miles from Pennsylvania and this week’s US PGA Championship, which last year bestowed $3
Racing need not fear Green party ‘conversation’ but must continue efforts on horse welfare
The Green party surged to record results at local and national level in last week’s elections, prompting Zack Polanski, the party’s leader in England and Wales, to suggest that two-party politics is “dead and buried”. Ladbrokes, meanwhile, subsequently cut the odds about the Green party winning the most seats at the next general election to 12-1, while an overall majority for the Greens is priced at 28-1.Not likely, in other words but, at the same time, far from impossible. In the case of a majority for Polanski’s party, it is roughly the same price as Moon Chime, the winner of the big handicap hurdle at Haydock last Saturday. However the party fares in terms of seat numbers, the Green voice in the next parliament, in three years’ time or possibly fewer, seems sure to be significantly louder than ever before
From the Pocket: Voss coached the way he played and his brutal football failed Carlton
When John Elliott died in 2021, the old, dark, imperial Carlton was dead. The new Carlton was grounded on “respect, humility and integrity”. The new president was a master networker. The new chief executive was the best administrator in football. The new coach had been one of the great players of his generation
‘Hold the line’: Burnham tells allies in parliament he still has options to return
‘It’s more incrementalism’: Starmer’s safe king’s speech fails to quell mutiny
Starmer has ‘full confidence’ in Streeting despite health secretary’s allies saying he is planning to resign – as it happened
Labour politicians should put the country before their party | Letters
Labour lost the vote of small business owners like me | Letter
King’s speech might be the last word on Starmer as reluctant monarch does his duty | John Crace