The Republic faces a huge increase in cancer cases unless our rising level of obesity is tackled, a major cancer conference heard yesterday. Dr Muiris Houston, Medical Correspondent, reports.
Speaking at Cancer 2004 in St James's Hospital, Dublin, Prof John Reynolds, professor of surgery at Trinity College Dublin and consultant surgeon at St James's, said obesity increased the risk of a number of cancers.
"Being obese is associated with up to 40 per cent of cases of cancer of the oesophagus and cancer of the womb, and with at least 10 per cent of colon cancers."
He told the meeting the prevalence of obesity in the Republic has increased by two thirds in the last decade, a greater increase than that recorded in the United States. The percentage of men who are obese here is now equivalent to the levels seen in the US in 1990.
"Our projections for future cancer numbers do not even take into account the current childhood epidemic of obesity and diabetes," he said.
Referring to recent data from the World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Prof Reynolds told the meeting that 25 per cent of cases of kidney cancer and 10 per cent of breast cancer cases in post-menopausal women were attributable to a high body mass index (BMI).
A person's BMI is measured by dividing weight in kilograms by their height in metres squared. A normal BMI for an adult is between 20 and 25. A person with a BMI of 25-30 is classified as overweight. An index greater than 30 means the person is obese.
Prof Reynolds presented the results of a study on obesity and cancer of the oesophagus which was carried out by Dr Aoife Ryan at TCD. The study found that more than 60 per cent of patients with oesophageal cancer were either overweight or obese.