Obese Teens At Higher Risk of Bowel Cancer

Research paper published by Harvard Medical School in the journal Gut shows obese teenagers have very high risks of developing bowel cancer.

The study researching the link between obesity and cancer was carried out by the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts. In the study, researchers monitored about 240000 men of Swedish citizenship for a period of 35 years.

According to the analysis of the study overweight teenagers have been found to have twice the risk of bowl cancer while obese children have extremely high risks of developing the disease in later life. The study also indicates processed meat leads to bowel cancer and it /4/be the reason bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the world.  

The findings of the research were published in the journal Gut today and the World Cancer Research Fund stated the study shows the link between cancer and obesity is very strong. According to the research men especially in their late teens with a BMI (Body Mass Index) of more than 25 were found to be 20.8 times more at risk of cancer. 

The subjects studied in the project were taken from the Swedish military since their late teens. The subjects were born between 1952 and 1956 and were obligated to take part in the assessment as a compulsory conscription of the military.

At the start of the study a majority of the men about 81 percent were of normal weight but with time 1.5 percent fell into the overweight group and 1 percent became obese. The study found a total of 885 men developed bowel cancer 35 years later and the upper overweight men had a risk factor of 2.08 while obese men had a risk factor of 2.38. Although women were not included in the study the results are substantial and need further probing.