Obesity and Cancer

CAIRO – 17 October 2017: Overweight and obesity-related cancers have increased to 40 percent in the U.S. Thus, in an attempt to raise awareness, the World Health Organization organized the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health campaign; calling for a worldwide movement to improve diets and physical activity patterns on the highest level possible.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published on their website that the burden of overweight and obesity-related cancers might decrease through efforts to prevent and control obesity. Comprehensive cancer control strategies, including the use of evidence-based interventions to promote healthy weights, could help curb the surge of these cancers in the United States.

There are 13 obesity-related cancers: Esophageal, Colorectal, Endometrial, Gallbladder, Stomach, Kidney, Liver, Ovarian, Pancreatic, Thyroid and Postmenopausal Breast Cancers, as well as Meningioma and multiple Myeloma. Over 1,000 studies have revealed that 630,000 individuals diagnosed with any of these cancers in 2014 were due to obesity and excess body weight.

According to the World Health Organization:

● Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975.

● In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 650 million were obese.

● Around 39 percent of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2016, and 13 percent were obese.

● Most of the world's population lives in countries where obesity kills more people than malnutrition does.

● Approximately 41 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2016.

● Over 340 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 were overweight or obese in 2016.