Obesity is to blame for 23 diseases and 13 types of cancers, webinar told

According to the World Health Organisation, obesity is one of the fastest growing causes of diseases leading to death around the world. It is estimated that two billion people globally are either overweight or obese and it is the fifth leading cause of death worldwide. While a recent study reported 50 per cent of adults in Pakistan were either overweight or obese, Pakistan ranks ninth among the world’s most obese countries.

These statistics were shared by Dr Reena Kumari, consultant medical oncologist at Ziauddin Hospital, Karachi, during a webinar organised by the Neurospinal and Cancer Care Institute in collaboration with M. Hashim Memorial Trust and Horizon Pharmaceuticals on Saturday.

“Obesity is known to cause 23 different diseases, from hypertension to diabetes and from cardiac issues to arthritis, and most horribly associated with 13 types of cancers. Obesity is a disease we usually invite through our lifestyle and casual approach,” Dr Kumari explained.

Individuals who are either overweight or obese before the age of 40 have an increased risk of developing different cancers, she said, quoting the conclusion of a recent large- scale study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, which revealed that people who are overweight before the age of 40 had a 70 per cent increased risk of developing endometrial cancer, a 58 per cent greater risk for renal-cell cancer, and a 29 per cent bigger risk for colon cancer.

“Obese women have a 40 per cent higher risk of developing at least four types of cancers in their lifetime. These weight-related cancers include post-menopausal breast, gallbladder, pancreatic and oesophageal types,” Dr Kumari said.

Cancer is alarming for anybody, and particularly in Pakistan where the obesity rate is very high, she is worried about the rising incidence of breast cancer, as an estimated 50,000 women die of breast cancer every year in Pakistan, which has the highest rate of this cancer in Asia and reports 90,000 new cases of the disease annually, while almost 20 women fall victim to cervical cancer daily.

She added that by 2030, 21.7 million new cancer cases and 13 million cancer deaths are expected to occur around the world and obesity is predicted to overtake smoking as a leading cause of cancers in women by 2035.

The mechanisms underlying the obesity-cancer relationship are incompletely understood. Obesity is associated with a distinct metabolic signature comprising changes in levels of specific amino acids and lipids, which is positively associated with both colorectal and endometrial cancer and is potentially reversible following weight loss.

Experimental and molecular epidemiologic studies indicate important roles for dysregulated sex hormone metabolism, adipose tissue-derived inflammation, and alterations in insulin signalling in mediating the adiposity and cancer associations. However, it is likely that other, as of yet unidentified, biological pathways may also underlie these relationships.

Dr Kumari concluded: “Losing weight isn’t easy, but you don’t have to join a gym and run miles every day or give up your favourite food. Just making small changes that you can maintain in the long term can have a real impact.”

Dr Ghulam Murtaza, consultant general, minimally invasive and bariatric surgeon at Patel Hospital, Karachi, said more than half of the country’s population was overweight or faces obesity, which was making the majority of the people vulnerable to multiple diseases and health complications that could prove fatal, including a variety of cancers.

“Preventing obesity is possible through adopting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and eating balanced food, while treatment of chronic obesity is possible through medicines and bariatric surgery.”

“Bariatric surgery includes a variety of procedures performed on people who are obese (those with a body mass index of 30 or more) or morbidly obese (a BMI higher than 40). A person’s ideal body mass index should be between 18.5 and 25,” he further explained.

Following extensive weight reduction, it has been observed that people can get rid of many ailments and their complications, including diabetes, hypertension and live a normal life, he added.