Medical practitioners have stressed the significance of weight management for general health improvement, and a large study demonstrated how maintaining an ideal bodyweight could also lower future risks of gastrointestinal cancer.
Researchers discovered that having an obese or overweight BMI during early and middle adulthood was associated with an increase in gastrointestinal cancer risk, with regular aspirin use having no impact on this increase.
Colorectal cancer is the third-most prevalent cancer among both men and women in the US, yet despite screening advances leading to earlier stage detections of disease, each year over 150,000 new rectal and colon cancer cases are identified.
As obesity rates are on the rise globally and 70% of American population can be considered obese or overweight, it is crucial for public health improvement that we understand the relationship between obesity and long-term disease risk, such as cancer, and being obese/overweight.
This study suggests that being obese or overweight at various points during life increases an individual’s risk for gastrointestinal cancer later on.
Researchers conducted studies to understand how changes in BMI at different points throughout adulthood could influence gastrointestinal cancer risk.
Previous data were examined from 131,161 individuals enrolled in a randomized study from 1993 to 2001 which investigated the effectiveness of screening exams for ovarian, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer for reducing cancer-related mortality. Participants aged between 55-74 when enrolling were evaluated.
Obesity is caused by the buildup and accumulation of white adipose tissue, leading to an inflammatory response and immune cell dysfunction which, over time, may result in disease like cardiovascular conditions like stroke or metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes; cancerous tumors affecting fat cells may also increase.
Age 20 was used to define early adulthood for this analysis, middle adulthood was considered 50 and later adulthood 55 or over.
BMI was calculated based on data compiled from questionnaires completed by participants at initial enrollment time at these age points.
Based on WHO standards, they were then divided into underweight (defined by having a BMI less than 18.5), normal (18.5-24.9), overweight (25-29.99) and obese categories.
Participants were required to report how frequently aspirin or products containing aspirin were taken during the study and they were followed up for 13 years.
Obese and overweight individuals in early, middle, and later adulthood were found to have an increased gastrointestinal cancer risk, regardless of BMI growth over time. Furthermore, regular aspirin use did not alter this relationship.
