The recent decades have witnessed the emergence of obesity among the masses as a serious global health concern. Earlier thought to be a lifestyle issue, it is now considered a major precipitating factor to diseases such as diabetes, heart ailments, and increasingly, cancer. Scientific studies point towards obesity being a risk factor for the development of several types of cancers. Excess body fat is known to trigger many biological changes in the body, including chronic inflammation, hormonal imbalances, and altered immune response. All these changes may contribute towards growth and spread of cancer cells in the body.
Factors contributing towards obesity
Excessive body fat accumulation or having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or higher is considered as obesity in adults. There are several factors that can lead to obesity such as:
• Poor diet: Consuming unhealthy food such as processed food and fast food can increase the body weight drastically.
• Sedentary lifestyle: Leading an inactive lifestyle without any physical exercises can increase body weight over a period of time.
• Genetic factors: Genes control obesity to a far extent. You are likely to be obese if one or both your parents were also overweight.
• Hormonal imbalances: Sometimes, due to hormonal changes, conditions such as PCOD (Polycystic Ovarian Disorder) occurs which can lead to increased body weight.
How obesity promotes cancer
There are several mechanisms that occur inside the body if a person is obese. These contribute to cancer to a large extent. Some of these biological mechanisms are:
• Chronic inflammation: Excess fat tissues have the potential to attract immune cells (macrophages). These cause low-grade inflammation in the body that result in DNA damage and facilitates tumor growth.
• Insulin resistance: Obesity often results in high insulin levels in the body and also insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Together, they can stimulate cell proliferation, leading to tumor formation.
• Hormonal changes: Excess production of estrogen hormone increases the risk of breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancers.
• Adipokine disruption: Fat cells or adepocytes produce a hormone, adipokine. In obese individuals there is excess leptin and reduced adiponectin production. As leptin stimulates increased cell growth without proper check due to decreased adiponectin production, this imbalance may stimulate tumor growth.
• Altered immune response: Obesity weakens the ability of the immune system to recognize and eliminate cancer cells from the body.
For many, obesity may mean like a cosmetic concern that impacts their appearance and sense of self-esteem. However, much deeper lies the underlying health concerns that increases the risk of several types of cancers including, breast, colorectal, endometrial, liver, pancreatic, kidney, and esophageal adenocarcinoma. As mentioned above, excess body fat affects the body in various ways. Knowing the connection between obesity and cancer highlights the need of maintaining a healthy body weight throughout life. By adopting healthy lifestyle measures such as balanced eating habits, engaging in regular physical exercises, etc. overall health and body weight can be improved. Hence, there is a need for individuals and communities to spread awareness about healthy lifestyle choices and taking meaningful steps toward reducing the burden of obesity-related cancers.