28 ways to drop the weight that leads to 13 cancers

Most of us are blissfully unaware that being overweight can have deadly consequences outside of metabolic syndrome, diabetes and heart disease.

In Fact, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research, more than half of all Americans aren’t aware that being overweight puts them at risk for cancer.

And at least seventy percent of us are significantly overweight.

The Centers for Disease Control says that forty percent of cancers diagnosed in the United States are associated with being overweight or obese.

How is it possible that most of us aren’t aware of the obesity-cancer connection when we are at risk for no fewer than a dozen cancers when we carry extra weight?

Let’s set the record straight: Carrying too much weight can be deadly. Here’s what we know…

Obesity will cause more cancers than smoking

Let’s start with an alarming prediction by Cancer Research UK, a national research, fundraising and patient outreach organization in England.

The organization reports that currently 12 percent of cancers in British women are linked to smoking, and 7 percent to being overweight and obese.

But, they predict, with the number of smokers falling and obesity rates rising, that gap will get smaller in the next 25 years. By 2035, just 17 years from now, 10 percent of cancers in women could be related to smoking and 9 percent related to excess weight.

They predict that by 2043, if the same trends continue, more cancers will be related to obesity than to smoking.

Think about that…

Being overweight will kill you even faster

Here in the United States, things aren’t looking much better.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the World Health Organization, has identified 13 cancers associated with carrying too much weight. Meningioma (tumors of the lining of the brain and spinal cord) and multiple myeloma (a blood cancer related to leukemia) are two of these. The others are cancers of the:

• Esophagus
• Thyroid
• Postmenopausal breast
• Gallbladder
• Stomach
• Liver
• Pancreas
• Kidney
• Ovaries
• Uterus
• Colon
• Rectum

The IARC also reports that 55 percent of all cancers diagnosed in women and 24 percent of those diagnosed in men are associated with being overweight or obese.

Not only does obesity increase the chances of developing these cancers, but it slashes the odds of survival for those who already have them.

An American Cancer Society study found that being overweight hugely elevates the chance of dying from many cancers. For example, men who have prostate cancer have a 34 percent greater chance of dying if they are overweight. For esophageal cancer, that risk increases by 91 percent.

So you see, that donut for breakfast could be as deadly as a morning cigarette.

Why the increased risk?

A number of reasons have been suggested for this increase in the incidence and risk of cancer for people who are overweight or obese.

• Fatty tissue produces excess estrogen, which is associated with breast and endometrial cancers.
• People with obesity often have elevated insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in their blood. This may promote the growth of certain tumors.
• People who are overweight generally have chronic inflammation throughout their body, which has been associated with increased cancer risk.

Regardless of the reason, one thing is pretty clear: losing weight or maintaining the healthy weight you’re at is just as important as kicking the cigarette habit, if not more important.

Tips for losing that cancer-causing weight

Losing weight can be a real challenge.

To start, here are 22 weight loss tips from my colleague, Dr. Michael Cutler. Some are things you may never have thought of before (I love #14!).

This slideshow offers six more weight loss hacks that just might work for you.

And if you’re still having difficulty dropping pounds, here are some tests you might have your doctor do to see if there’s an underlying cause.

Once you’re at a healthy weight, of course, exercise and a whole-food diet free of processed foods will help you maintain it and increase your chances of staying cancer-free.