Being overweight or obese significantly increases the risk of developing colon cancer, breast cancer or liver cancer, and is a major risk factor for 10 other types of cancer, a new study has found.
Until recently, researchers believed that 2% to 8% of all cancer cases were attributable to excess body weight. But a new study by a team led by Hermann Brenner, an epidemiologist with the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), suggests that this was a serious underestimate.
According to the study, up to 11.5% of cancers may be attributable to being overweight.
The DKFZ researchers "have not only updated existing risk estimates, but have also questioned whether the link between excess weight and cancer may have been underestimated until now," Michael Leitzmann, an epidemiologist at the University of Regensburg, told DW.
Leitzmann, who was not involved in the study, researches diet, body weight, physical activity and the development of chronic diseases at the university's Institute of Epidemiology and Prevention, and has advised German Cancer Aid.
