(10-07-10) Obesity increases the risk of cancer death among Asians too

Historically, obesity has been a problem of western countries. For instance,
nearly 1 in 3 Americans is obese (defined as having a body mass index that tops
30), as are about 1 in 4 members of the United Kingdom. According to this
ranking compiled with data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, the most obese countries in Asia are Japan and South Korea, where
a mere 3.2% of the population has a BMI over 30.

But with obesity rates rising in China, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore and
other Asian countries, an international group of researchers wondered how those
extra pounds might be raising the risk of death from cancer. After all, adding
5 points to one?s BMI is known to increase the risk of cancer among Caucasians
by 10% to 60%. Was the same true for Asians?

To find out, they analyzed data from 424,519 people who were part of the Asia-
Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration. The researchers found that for every 5
points added to BMI, the risk of death rose 9%. (That calculation excluded two
types of cancer ? of the lung and the upper aerodigestive tract ? whose risk is
linked to a lower BMI.) Compared with people who have a healthy weight (BMI
between 18.5 and 24.9), those who were obese were 21% more likely to die of
cancer.

The increased risk was traced primarily across six types of cancer ? ovarian,
cervical, prostate, breast (among women older than 60), leukemia and cancer of
the large intestine. The results were published online Tuesday by the journal
Lancet Oncology.

Even though obesity is still a comparatively small problem in Asia, the large
number of cancer patients there (6.2 million, compared with 1.6 million in
North America and 3.4 million in Europe) means that a great many cases might be
traced to excess body weight, according to an editorial accompanying the study.

? Karen Kaplan

Source: www.latimes.com

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