Men urged to lose 2½ stone to cut prostate cancer risk
BULGING waistlines cause around 1,300 prostate cancer deaths a year in Britain, research suggests.
Experts from the University of Oxford say they have proven for the first time that carrying excess fat raises the risk of dying from the disease.
A five-point increase in body mass index (BMI) – equating to around 2.5st on average – raises the risk of dying from prostate cancer by 10 per cent.
An extra 4in on the waist increased the risk by 7 per cent, a 5 per cent rise in body fat sent it up 3 per cent and a 0.05 rise in waist-to-hip ratio pushed it up by 6 per cent.
The researchers calculated that there would be 1,300 fewer prostate cancer deaths a year in the UK if the average BMI in men were five points lower. Five points can take someone from a healthy weight to overweight or from overweight to obese.
The study reviewed measurements of 2.5million men from 19 previous studies, as well as new data on 200,000 more.
The average British man is around 5ft 10in tall and weighs around 13st 3lb. A five-point lower BMI is the equivalent of 2.5st of weight loss.
Prostate cancer is the most common type in men in the UK, causing 12,000 deaths a year.
Study leader Dr Aurora PerezCornago said: ‘We found that men with higher total and central adiposity have a higher risk of dying from prostate cancer than men with a healthy weight.
‘Age, family history and black ethnicity are known risk factors but they are not modifiable and so it is important to discover risk factors that it is possible to change.’
Dr Perez-Cornago added: ‘More research is needed to determine if the association is biologically driven or due to delays in detection in men with higher adiposity [obesity].
‘In either case, our latest results provide another reason for men to try to maintain a healthy weight.’
The findings were presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and subsequently published in journal BMC Medicine.
Simon Grieveson, of Prostate Cancer UK, said: ‘Maintaining a healthy weight can protect against many cancers, but it is important to remember that prostate cancer can affect men of all shapes and sizes.’
‘APPLE-ShAPED’ women are twice as likely to develop womb cancer as those with less fat around the stomach, according to University of Glasgow researchers.
Those with the highest levels of belly fat were 5 per cent more likely to develop any type of cancer, according to a study of 385,458 British adults. The risk of breast cancer rose 11 per cent.