Obesity-related cancers rising, threatening gains in US rates

CHICAGO — The rates of 12 obesity-related cancers rose by seven percent from 2005 to 2014, an increase that is threatening to reverse progress in reducing the rate of cancer in the United States, health officials said last week.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 630,000 people in the country were diagnosed with a cancer linked to being overweight or obese in 2014.

Obesity-related cancers accounted for about 40 percent of all cancers diagnosed in the US in 2014. Although the overall rate of new cancer diagnoses has fallen since the 1990s, rates of obesity-related cancers have been rising.

“Today’s report shows that in some cancers, we’re going in the wrong direction,” Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC said on a conference call with reporters.

According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, 13 cancers are associated with overweight and obesity. They include meningioma, multiple myeloma, adenocarcinoma of the esophagus and cancers of the thyroid, postmenopausal breast, gallbladder, stomach, liver, pancreas, kidney, ovaries, uterus, colon and rectum (colorectal).

In 2013-2014, about two out of three US adults were considered overweight or obese.

CDC researchers used the US cancer statistics database to see how obesity was affecting cancer rates.

Although cancer rates rose in 12 of these cancers from 2005 to 2012, colorectal cancer rates fell by 23 percent, helped by increases in screening, which prevents new cases by finding growths before they turn into cancer. –