Bigger waistlines increase bowel cancer risk

Published on Sunday 12 September 2010 14:26

Carrying excess fat round the waist increases the risk of bowel cancer even if the rest of the body is slim, experts said today.

For every extra inch on the waist above a healthy measurement, the risk of bowel cancer goes up 3 per cent, a study found.

Experts concluded a big waist circumference is a predictor of bowel cancer regardless of body mass index (BMI) - a measure of weight in relation to height.

The research, from experts at Imperial College London and the University of Leeds, will be presented at an international cancer conference today.

It reviews seven previous papers which found fat around the middle is a predictor for bowel cancer.

The review provides the strongest evidence so far for the link, even if the rest of the body is in proportion and the person is normal weight or only moderately overweight.

As a guide, a healthy waist measurement is defined as less than 31.5in for women, less than 37in for white and black men and less than 35in for Asian men.

Professor Martin Wiseman, medical and scientific adviser for the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), which funded the study, said: "This latest study adds to the already strong evidence that carrying excess body fat increases your risk of cancer.

"Scientists now say that, after not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight is the most important thing you can do for cancer prevention.

"We estimate that more than 2,700 cases of bowel cancer a year in the UK could be prevented through people maintaining a healthy weight.

"But as well as confirming the link between body fat and bowel cancer, this study has strengthened the evidence that where we carry the fat is also important.

"This means that people who do have a large waist should consider losing weight even if they are in the normal BMI range."

Dr Teresa Norat, lead researcher, said: "This study indicates that people should pay attention to abdominal fatness even if they are in the normal range of weight, and it confirms that being overweight increases the risk of this type of cancer.

"More research is needed to understand how abdominal fatness can be prevented in normal and overweight individuals."

About 38,500 cases of bowel cancer are diagnosed every year in the UK.

Experts recommend people keep as slim as they can without becoming underweight.The study, which will be presented at WCRF's conference in London, comes as researchers writing in the European Journal of Cancer said more should be done to prevent people putting on weight, which also increases the risk of bowel cancer.

Dr Esther de Vries, from the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, and colleagues estimated the future burden of colon cancer in seven European countries, including the UK.

They said if people continued to put on weight at the same rate as in the US, by 2019 UK rates of bowel cancer would rise between 0.7 per cent and 3.8 per cent..