The Facts on Weight Management and Cancer

In the UK, the links between cancer and obesity are well known. I have already had breast cancer, and would like to do anything possible to prevent its return. I do also agree though with Mary, anything you go to see the doctor about, from headaches to an ingrowing toenail, is put down to your weight. It is difficult to get the doctor to see past this, and connect with anything else. - 10/8/2012 9:04:34 AM

I think some studies are in complete, but I do agree that being over weight does causes allot of health problem including ,problems with your feet. I liked this article and it does give me more moivation to lose weight.Like the one comment, doctors,will say , your over weight ,or you smoke, that is the problem. I use to go to a doctor for my diabetis , for 5 years when I went to see him, the only thing he ever said you smoke and nothing about what I was seeing him about,kept me on the same meds, I was on. When I changed doctors after they done labs, they changed my meds, and said I should of been changed a long time ago. The only reason I stayed with that doctor so long was because of my insurance. - 10/8/2012 8:36:43 AM

Such a great, informational article! - 6/19/2012 10:22:30 AM

This is actually the main reason for my healthy lifestyle journey. I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma in January of this year and after 9 months of chemo and surgery and an all around horrible experience I am determined to do whatever I can to stay cancer free...including losing the 30lbs of excess weight I am dragging around. While being overweight may not cause cancer I'm not taking my chances of having to battle with it again...so anything within my power to change is gonna change! - 11/8/2010 9:46:20 AM

Great article! I am learning so much on my cancer journey but the biggest lesson is that I am responsible for what goes in my mouth and how much I move my body .... we certainly can't control everything that happens but we control much more than we think we can. - 8/24/2009 1:53:59 PM

FOLKS, THIS ARTICLE SPEAKS THE TRUTH! I knew I was at risk for heart disease, both my parents had CHF. I knew I was at risk for diabetes due to my weight. But there was ZERO FAMILY HISTORY of "C" in our family, and yet that got me first! My doctor said my excess weight was THE ONLY FACTOR he could identify. Environmental factors no doubt factored in, but the excess weight made me an easy target.

Please let this scare you into taking this article's advice seriously. I was lucky to have "the least of the least", but I am ineligible for life insurance for at least 5 years, I'm a "marked woman." I want to get the excess off now to stave off additional "C", and to avoid heart disease and diabetes. - 8/24/2009 7:12:56 AM

First, a big shout out to GEOIGGS - your story is inspiring. Second, as the article states, cancer is a very complex disease, and I'm learning that the many different types of cancer have many different triggers. Luckily, I have not gone through cancer, but several people I know have been diagnosed recently, and all three have been thin people with very healthy, plant-based (mainly Asian-style) diets. Cancer is just a very weird and horrible disease. - 5/29/2009 11:05:17 PM

I'm troubled by the conclusions the reporters are drawing about the research, for a couple of reasons. First, association isn't the same as causation. Without having read the original studies, it's hard to know whether the researchers are claiming causation or association and what other variables they've eliminated. The second reason is that the reporting of this study will tend to increase the problem that health professionals tend to see everything through one causal lens. If you're a smoker, all your health problems must be due to smoking-if you're overweight, all your health problems must be due to weight.

Finally, and this is my particular bugaboo, I think that BMI is voodoo. It's simply a height-weight ratio, unadjusted for gender, frame, or fitness. It's not even as sophisticated as the old Met Life Insurance charts. A far better measure for health purposes would be body fat percentage-I personally don't think of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone as obese, although their BMI says they are--nor are Tom Cruise and George Clooney overweight.
- 4/12/2009 11:03:49 PM

AICR has a great website: http://www.aicr.o
rg/. The American Plate is an excellent tool. - 7/28/2008 1:02:10 PM

I had a grandmother and an aunt who were both not overweight when they were diagnosed with breast cancer. My aunt was in her early 40s and actually underweight. She also exercises regularly and has a very healthy eating lifestyle. The thing is they were both on hormone therapy. It is something that I think really needs to be researched as well as the hormones that are allowed in our food supply. I think most people don't even stop to consider what is in the food at the supermarket, including myself! - 7/28/2008 10:25:55 AM

I happen to be one of the 1200 men that get breast cancer each year. I feel blessed that I was diagnosed with it at an early stage had radical mastecomy and a year of chemo. Cancer has taught me how to live for the first time in my life I have learned how not to be angry and to value relationships. The chemo was extremely taxing on my body I worked throughout the treatments. My health was at a very low point, I put on 40 lbs the chemo was giving my heart trouble and I had 4 pneumonias during the treatments.

To date I have lost 49 lbs and will continue to get to an optimal weight. I exercise daily and my fitness has increased and I feel the better than I did when I was in my thirties. My blood pressure is under control eliminated one med and one to go.....I plan on being med free when it comes to BP..........My cholestrol was 252 and now its 200 working on getting rid of this med. - 7/28/2008 8:38:08 AM

As a Kidney Cancer Survivor, I learned that obesity and smoking are the leading causes of kidney cancer. I quit smoking, now I need to work on the weight.......... - 7/28/2008 8:16:13 AM

I was not obese or even overweight when I was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40. Going through cancer treatment and being thrown into early menopause from chemo put weight on me. - 7/28/2008 7:43:26 AM

I've had breast cancer which is hormone sensitive and I have found out that one of the best things you can do to reduce your risk is to eat healthily and eat organically. For instance, did you know that cows are pumped with hormones to make them fatter to gain more yield? This means that all the dairy food you eat and beef products have extra hormones in them and they happen to work in the same way that estrogen does in women!!! I can go on, most processed foods also have ingredients that can act in the same way as hormones. So if you eat healthily, and from scratch and you eat organic diary, meat and grains, also make sure you aim for at least 7-10 fruit and vegetables each day of all colours especially green you will give yourself good protection. My view is that as obese people do not usually eat healthily it's that fact that increases their risk. What we eat really does make a difference to whether we line ourselves up for cancer or not. - 7/28/2008 5:44:28 AM

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ASSOCIATION AND A CAUSE!!!! And just because obesity is ASSOCIATED with cancer does NOT mean it is the cause. A key to this is the statement in the beginning of the article, "New findings suggest that fat cells constantly secrete a variety of hormones and other growth factors into the bloodstream. In obese and overweight individuals, greater amounts of these hormones and growth factors are continually pumped into the bloodstream." AND WHAT UNDERLIES THE CAUSE OF OBESITY? WHY IS NO ONE ASKING THIS QUESTION? Everyone seems to come from the viewpoint that obesity is the cause, but obesity is another SYMPTOM of the true underlying cause, which is whacked out hormones!

Obese people have more leptin. Why? Obese people have more of other hormones. It's putting the cart before the horse to say that they have more of these hormones because they are obese. No, they are obese and they have more of these hormones because of an underlying hormonal maladjustment issue. Both Dr. Ron Rosedale and Nutritionist Byron Richards address these underlying issues in their books, The Rosedale Diet and Mastering Leptin, respectively.

This is worse than the urban myth that being obese cause one's friends to be obese!!! For Pete's sake.....ASSOCIAT
ION is not the same thing as CAUSATION!!!! Get a grip on reality.

Until scientists and doctors are willing to look at obesity as a SYMPTOM instead of calling it a disease, we will never make real medical progress.

ASSOCIATION just simply is not the same thing as CAUSE. - 7/28/2008 12:32:03 AM