Excess Pounds Raise Women's Cancer Risk

Reeves' team also found that, in general, overweight and obese women were more likely to die from cancer once they developed the illness compared to slimmer women. The obesity-linked increase in the rate of cancer death was similar to the increase in cancer risk, the researchers reported.

One expert said the findings highlight another reason to stay slim.

"This study adds to the considerable body of evidence that shows the relationship between overweight obesity and cancer risk," said Eugenia E. Calle, managing director of analytic epidemiology at the American Cancer Society and author of an accompanying journal editorial.

To reduce their risk of cancer, women need to stay lean, Calle said. "Women should not gain weight in adulthood and maintain a weight that puts you on the lean end of normal weight," she said. This is also a benefit in preventing heart disease, diabetes and other medical problems, and maintaining a good quality of life, she added.

In related news, a study in the Nov. 7 issue of theJournal of the American Medical Associationfound obesity to be associated with 11 percent of deaths from cancers that are already considered to be obesity-related. The trend was not seen for non-obesity-related cancers, however.

"We estimate about 5 percent of all cancer deaths are associated with obesity," said the lead author of that study, Katherine M. Flegal, of the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics. "That ranges from -0.2 to 7.9 percent, so there is not much of a difference between the two studies."

More information

For more on cancer in women, visit the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

SOURCES: Gillian Reeves, Ph.D., statistical epidemiologist, Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, U.K.; Eugenia E. Calle, Ph.D., managing director, analytic epidemiology, American Cancer Society, Atlanta;Katherine M. Flegal, Ph.D., U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, Md; Nov. 7, 2007,British Medical Journal; Nov. 7, 2007,Journal of the American Medical Association