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An IARC working group reviewed over 1,000 studies and concluded there is sufficient evidence that absence of excess body fat lowers the risk of 13 cancers, up from 5 in the 2002 evaluation.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer convened a working group in 2016 to re-evaluate body fatness and cancer for the IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention, reviewing more than 1,000 epidemiological studies, mostly cohort studies, plus mechanistic evidence on insulin, sex hormones and inflammation.
Sufficient evidence of a cancer-preventive effect of avoiding excess body fat was found for cancers of the oesophagus (adenocarcinoma), gastric cardia, colon and rectum, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, breast (postmenopausal), corpus uteri, ovary, kidney (renal cell), meningioma, thyroid and multiple myeloma. Relative risks rose with BMI, ranging from about 1.1 per 5 BMI units for postmenopausal breast cancer to around 7 for endometrial cancer at BMI 40 or above.
The paper reframed obesity as a leading modifiable cancer cause after tobacco.
Maintaining a healthy weight is now established cancer prevention for over a dozen cancer types. For clinicians and policymakers, obesity belongs alongside tobacco and alcohol in prevention strategy. Whether intentional weight loss in adulthood reverses risk is still being studied, including in trials of GLP-1 drugs.
Shares A trial of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs with cancer as the primary outcome, Prevention we already have is not deployed, Endometrial cancer, Renal cell carcinoma.
Shares International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC / WHO), Prevention we already have is not deployed, Thyroid cancer, Endometrial cancer.
Shares Thyroid cancer, Renal cell carcinoma, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer.
Shares International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC / WHO), Prevention we already have is not deployed, Oesophageal cancer, Hepatocellular carcinoma.
Shares A trial of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs with cancer as the primary outcome, Funding follows fashion, not burden, Prevention we already have is not deployed, Endometrial cancer.
Shares International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC / WHO), Funding follows fashion, not burden, Oesophageal cancer, Hepatocellular carcinoma.
Shares Thyroid cancer, Renal cell carcinoma, Oesophageal cancer, Hepatocellular carcinoma.
Shares International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC / WHO), Prevention we already have is not deployed, Oesophageal cancer, Hepatocellular carcinoma.