Teen obesity could lead to bowel cancer later on - Study reveals

onnaedo

May 26, 2015 12:08 PM

The study, published in the journal Gut, followed nearly 240,000 Swedish men for 35 years and showed overweight teenagers went on to have twice the risk of developing bowel cancer.

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It's never too early to begin the weight watch as new research has shown that teen obesity can be linked to bowel cancer.

The study, published in the journal Gut, followed nearly 240,000 Swedish men for 35 years and showed overweight teenagers went on to have twice the risk of developing bowel cancer.

According to BBC, the participants in the study were aged between 16 and 20 at the start and the overwhelming majority were a normal weight, but 6.5% were overweight and 1% were obese.

There were 855 cases of colorectal cancer in the study and those who were obese were 2.38 times more likely to have developed a bowel tumour.

In the study led by Orebro University Hospital in Sweden and Harvard University, it was stated that with adolescence being such a period of accelerated growth, especially among men, it was important to understand the role of exposure in adolescence in the development of colorectal cancer.

It stated further,

"In fact, the strong association observed between adolescent obesity and early-to-mid-life colorectal cancer, coupled with the increasing prevalence of adolescent obesity, may shed light on the increase in colorectal cancer incidence among young adults,"

Speaking on the finding, Rachel Thompson, from the World Cancer Research Fund described the find as interesting because it gives an indication that bowel cancer risk might be affected by our lifestyle habits throughout the life course.

The World Cancer Research Fund further said the link between obesity and cancer was "strong".

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