A new study shows that too much body fat can lead to an increased risk of digestive system cancer.
Researchers have found that fat mass is the main obesity-related risk factor that causes cancer. Obesity affects certain cancer types but not other cancers.
The researchers used genetic variations that affect individual height and weight, and compared whether the genes that make individuals more likely to increase their body mass index (BMI) also make them more susceptible to various cancer types.
They did the same with the genes that make people taller.
The key message to the public should pay less attention to the body size that people are usually powerless, and more attention should be paid to managing the amount of fat they carry
The increased genetic predisposition of tall people is always related to the increased risk of the different cancer types studied.
Although the genetic tendency to increase BMI is associated with an increased risk of digestive system cancer.
This includes liver cancer, stomach cancer, esophageal cancer, and pancreatic cancer-but it has nothing to do with the increased overall risk of other cancers.
Dr. Stephen Burgess, a statistician from the Biostatistics Department of the Medical Research Council of the University of Cambridge, said: “It is well known that a larger body is associated with a greater risk of cancer.
“But what is not known is whether the increased risk is the inevitable result of a big man, or whether it is caused by a specific component of obesity that people can change.”
Dr. Amy Mason, statistician in the public sector healthy The Primary Care and Primary Care Institution of the University of Cambridge said: “The key message to the public should focus less on the body size that people are usually powerless, but should focus more on managing the amount of fat they carry.”
The research was conducted by researchers from the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London Karolinska Institute Stockholm And the University of Bristol, also found that different cancer types act in opposite directions.
Especially for sex-related cancers, the genetic tendency to increase BMI is related to the increased risk of cervical cancer and endometrial cancer, but it reduces the risk of breast and prostate cancer.
scientists The association of genes that affect individual fat mass and fat-free mass was also compared to distinguish these components of body shape.
Fat mass refers to the part of a person’s body weight caused by fat, while fat-free mass refers to the individual’s body weight without body fat.
Studies have shown that the increased risk of various gastrointestinal cancers is mainly due to fat mass.
Although this study did not provide any definitive evidence about the mechanism, the researchers said that it is generally believed that tall people have a higher risk of cancer because they have more cells in their bodies and therefore have a greater chance of developing cancer.
Researchers believe that the specific link between fat mass and gastrointestinal cancer may be due to increased consumption of carcinogens (carcinogens) in fatty foods, or increased levels of adipose tissue leading to increased inflammation of the digestive tract.
The link between obesity and sex-specific cancer may be driven by the production of reproductive hormones in adipose tissue.
The first author, Dr. Mathew Vithayathil, a clinical researcher in gastroenterology at Imperial College London, said: “This result has important clinical implications.
“Although our research supports the causal role of obesity in driving and preventing certain cancers, it suggests that the different effects of BMI on different malignancies should be further explored.
“Rather than treating obesity as a common cancer risk factor, it may be more appropriate to use obesity as a risk factor for digestive system cancer with more detailed public health information.”
The research, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, is based on data from 367,561 individuals from the UK Biobank Research.
