London: The COVID-19 pandemic shook up the world four years ago and instilled the fear of death in human beings.
But it was a passing phase, thanks to the development of vaccines in record time.
What remains the biggest threat and continues to wreck families is the dreaded disease called cancer.
As cancer cases rise alarmingly across the world, a recent study has found a strong link beween obesity and the killer ailment.
According to the latest research, the number of cancers related to excess weight is multiplying. Being obese can put a human at a much greater risk of cancer than thought of ever before.
The research, conducted by Lund University in Sweden’s Malmo, has found out that obesity-related cancers could now be detected in 4 out of 10 people.
The study has linked 32 types of cancer to obesity – a sharp rise from the 13 types known earlier.
The findings of the study will be presented at European Congress on Obesity in Venice.
The researchers studied the weight and lifestyle of 4.1 million participants over a period of four decades. They examined 122 types and subtypes of cancer and zeroed in on 32 forms of cancer with an obesity link.
Thirteen of these – including breast, bowel, womb and kidney cancers — had been identified in 2016 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Among the 19 new potential obesity-related cancers detected in the recent study are malignant melanoma, gastric tumours, cancers of small intestine and pituitary glands, types of head and neck cancer, vulvar and penis cancer.
Every five-point increase in BMI — equivalent to gaining about 18 kg — for someone with a healthy weight increased chances of getting certain cancers by 24 per cent in men and 13 per cent in women, the study found.
Poor diet is taking heavy toll on health, threatening to turn into a national public health emergency.
People around the world have to realise that the only way to avoid obesity – thereby reduce risk of cancer — is check and control diet pattern.
