Adolescent obese males at risk of cancer later in life: Study

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDJun 17 2011

According to a new study, men who are obese as teenagers are at a greater risk of cancer. Researchers claim that the risk remains even among those who lose weight later in life.

The researchers looked at medical records of 20,000 men who attended the prestigious Harvard School of Public Health between 1916 and 1950. Lead researcher Dr Linsay Gray, of the Medical Research Council, said, “This is the first time the impact of obesity in early adulthood on later risk of cancer has been so closely examined. The message here is really clear: keeping your weight healthy as a young adult can significantly reduce your chance of developing cancer. These findings point worryingly to a greater future burden of cancer.”

In a paper to be published in the Annals of Oncology, the researchers describe how the students with the highest Body Mass Index - a figure based on an individual's height and weight - at age 18 were 35 per cent more likely to die from cancer later in life than those who were thinner.

Results revealed that those who were overweight or obese as teenagers were 50 per cent more likely to die of lung cancer than those who were a healthy weight, regardless of whether or not they smoked. Other common cancers in the men who were obese at adolescence were skin, kidney, and bladder, prostate and ­testicular cancers. Those with the highest body mass indexes at 18 had a 35% higher risk of cancer than those with low BMIs, the Medical Research Council study says.

Lead scientist Professor David Batty, Wellcome Trust fellow at UCL, added, “Investigating the influence, if any, of obesity in late adolescence and early adulthood on future cancer risk requires studies that have the capacity to track individuals over many decades until they develop cancer. Because such studies are so rare, our results make an important contribution to the field.”

Jessica Harris, Cancer Research UK's senior health information officer, said, “Decades of research have shown that being overweight leads to a higher risk of several types of cancer. This new study has some limitations, like not being able to account for other things that affect cancer risk, but it did show that overweight people are more likely to die from certain cancers. Scientists estimate that in the UK, the current number of people who are overweight and obese could lead to around 19,000 cases of cancer a year, so keeping a healthy weight is a great way to reduce the risk.”