Packing on the pounds gets a well-deserved bad rap. Most
Americans understand that excess weight contributes to heart
disease and diabetes, not to mention the urge to hide behind the
kids in family photos. But obesity as a risk factor for cancer?
That seems to be the case. An increasing number of studies are
finding that overweight and obese people are more likely to
develop cancer of various kinds. At least half a dozen types of
cancer are believed to be directly affected by weight. "As time
goes on, we're realizing that obesity is related to more cancers
than we originally suspected," said Dr. Donald Hensrud, an
associate professor of preventive medicine and nutrition at the
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. Researchers are unable to prove
that obesity actually causes cancer because requiring people to
either gain weight or keep their weight down in clinical trials
would be impossible. Most of the data come from observational
studies, in which people who are thinner are probably doing many
things differently