[better health3]

Keep going ladies and gents. This is scary stuff...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33008906/ns/health-cancer/

[JulieJ08]

quote:
Renehan said new strategies were needed to help people stay slim. "We need to find the biological mechanism to help people find other ways of tackling obesity," he said. "Just telling the population to lose weight obviously hasn't worked."

Bright one, him.

But, I do find it fascinating that fat is not this inert lump of stuff as it used to be thought.

[Alana in Canada]

I appreciate the link to the story--but I don't really see why they think being fat causes the cancers. How, exactly did they figure that out?

Scientists aren't sure why being fat boosts your cancer risk, but suspect it is connected to hormones. As people become fatter, they produce more hormones like estrogen that help tumors grow. People with big bellies also have more acid in their stomachs, which can lead to stomach, intestinal or esophageal cancer.

And are they sure it isn't a correlation? I mean have they ruled out that the cancer may be caused by concentrations of something in the foods we eat?


For example, there's lots of estrogen-like compounds in soy: soy is added to a lot of processed foods--folks who eat a lot of processed foods tend to be heavier than those who do not--you see where I'm going.

Perhaps instead of telling people to lose weight, Americans should demand their government stop giving farmers subsidies to grow soybeans. I do NOT want to start a political conversation--I just don't like seeing "fat" become the new whipping boy for all our ills.

I hate vague stories like this, really.

[murphmitch]

I think a lot of scientific study points to correlations. That doesn't mean they aren't valid though. If you do a google search of scientific journals, you will see tons of studies relating obesity to many different cancers. Some propose the risk increases due to metabolic stress and inflammation in the body. Some relate the increasing incidence of cancer to the rise in diabetes as obesity rates climb. Others propose it is related to the increased estrogen levels that overweight women may have. Some are correlated to physical activity levels. But they all tend to say the same thing. It may be a bit of which comes first, the chicken or the egg? Does the poor lifestyle contribute to the cancer, or does the increased obesity? It's probably a combination of a lot of factors, including diet, lifestyle, genetics and environment.

[better health3]

I've read studies where obese women have a higher chance of breast and ovarian cancer due to their weight. The research is out there.