Adolescent obesity and midlife cancer risk: a population-based cohort study of 2.3 million adolescents in Israel
Study found increased risk for any cancer among men, but not women who had a BMI above 50th percentile in adolescence. However, adolescent obesity was inversely associated with breast/cervical cancer, and when these cancers were excluded, risk for women was similar to that in men
Source:
The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology
SPS commentary:
A related editorial notes that although smoking is currently the major cause of preventable cancer cases and accounts for 22% of cancer deaths, a 2018 report from Cancer Research UK estimated that high BMI (overweight and obesity) now causes more cases of four common cancers (bowel, kidney, ovarian, and liver) in the UK than does smoking, and could overtake smoking as the biggest cause of cancer in women in the UK by 2043.