The Sydney Morning Herald (KC)
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09-Aug-2007 - Fat, chance and cancer
Fat, chance and cancer
Renee Switzer and Hannah Edwards
Photo: Getty Images
THE nation's obesity epidemic is exposing the alarming link between body fat and cancer.
A dramatic increase in a deadly form of oesophagus cancer linked to obesity suggests excess body fat is driving the disease.
David Whiteman, a senior research fellow at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, said adenocarcinoma had increased five fold in the past 25 years in Australia - an "unprecedented" rise.
"Could it be that the fat tissue itself is acting like a fertiliser?" he said.
"Is it producing an environment where if you have an early change that could turn into a cancer in someone with more body fat, that it is more likely to flourish, take root and grow than it would in a lean person who doesn't have the same amount of proteins flitting around the body."
Yesterday NSW Cancer Council's Kathy Chapman said obesity and poor nutrition were risk factors for several types of common cancers, including bowel cancer and breast cancer in post-menopausal women.
But she warned that, as the obesity epidemic worsens, several less-common cancer strains, such as oesophageal, kidney and endometrial (uterus), would become more prevalent.
Ms Chapman said the link between cancer and obesity varied according to the type of cancer but was broadly due to altered levels of hormones in an overweight body.
"For breast cancer, the link would be [an altered] level of oestrogen," she said.
Dr Whiteman's study has been accepted for publication in the medical journal Gut, published by the British Medical Journal publishing group.
His research team looked at more than 1000 Australians diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and compared them with healthy people. There are about 800 cases of adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus per year in Australia but those rates are increasing.
Yesterday, Cancer Institute NSW spokesman Adrian Grundy said there had been a jump in recorded cases of oesophageal cancer in NSW.
Figures from the NSW Central Cancer Registry show that the incident rates of the cancer increased by 19per cent in males between 1995 and 2004 with 402 new cases recorded.
Obesity and a diet low in fruit and vegetables and some minerals and vitamins could increase the risk of the cancer, he said. Reflux (heartburn) from the stomach was another risk factor.
"Any increase in incident rates is something that requires further investigation," Mr Grundy said.
The Victorian Cancer Council has conducted a 20-year study of more than 40,000 Victorians that looked at how lifestyle factors, including diet and exercise, affected a person's risk of developing certain cancers.
It was estimated that 2000 Australians die each year from cancer because they are overweight.
The study, developed by Professor Graham Giles, found 45 per cent of men and women with adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus were considered overweight - with a body mass index of more than 25.
Professor David Hill said certain cancers were found to be associated with being overweight, including cancer of the colon, endometrium, post-menopausal breast, kidney and myeloid (bone marrow) leukaemia.
"We know obesity and overweight is related to post-menopausal breast cancer in women but, in fact, the death rate for breast cancer is falling. So you've got better treatment and earlier detection going in one way then trends in obesity going the other way creating more cases in the first place.
"This study shows how much impact you could make in reducing the burden of cancer by, in fact, changing the prevalence of the risk factor, in this case ... obesity."
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