Being fat is not a blessing ~ The risk of cancer is high, especially these cancers!

Obesity can be said to be a modern disease of civilization! According to the National Nutrition and Health Status Change Survey between 2013 and 2016, the rate of overweight and obesity among Taiwanese adults is 45.4%. Taiwan's obese population, both adults and children, ranks first in Asia. In Taiwan, obesity has become a terrible invisible killer!

The various diseases caused by obesity are actually too numerous to list. In addition to the common three highs of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high blood lipids, it is also easy to cause fatty liver, sleep apnea, degenerative arthritis, lower back pain, gout, polycystic ovary syndrome, etc. But what you may not know is that obesity can also increase the incidence and mortality of many cancers!

The National Cancer Institute of the United States points out that obesity increases the risk of cancer, especially esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer in postmenopausal women, endometrial cancer, kidney cancer, etc.; it also increases the mortality rate of cancers, such as: liver cancer, gallbladder cancer, pancreatic cancer, myeloma, lymphoma, invasive prostate cancer, etc.

There are various complex mechanisms proposed by researchers as to why obesity causes cancer. For example, hyperinsulinemia induced by fat cells is one of the causes of colorectal cancer; the insulin level in the blood is positively correlated with the risk of prostate cancer; for postmenopausal women, obesity is related to higher estrogen concentrations in the blood, which directly affects the occurrence of breast cancer; obesity is one of the causes of acid reflux, which may further catalyze the occurrence of esophageal cancer; finally, the chronic inflammatory response caused by obesity will stimulate the release of cytokines and may also stimulate tumor growth.

Weight control reduces cancer risk

In addition to causing cancer and increasing mortality, obesity also affects the effectiveness of cancer treatment. Due to concerns about the toxin being too strong, chemotherapy doses for obese patients are often discounted, which may also affect the efficacy; when radiation therapy is given from outside the body, obese people are more likely to deviate, causing the target tumor to not receive enough radiation dose, affecting the control effect; when undergoing prostatectomy, it is more difficult for obese cancer patients to completely remove the cancer site and it is also more difficult to completely preserve the nerve plexus. Additionally, if you gain weight after cancer, most of it is fat rather than muscle. If you can adjust your diet, increase exercise, and maintain a constant weight, it will be beneficial for subsequent health management!

Obesity is caused by a long-term positive caloric balance, which means that the calorie intake is greater than the calorie expenditure. Therefore, if you want to solve the problem of obesity, you must examine whether you have bad living habits, such as: whether you often eat too fast or overeat, irregular meals, lack of sleep, watch too much TV, do not exercise, etc. If you want to improve, you can monitor yourself by keeping a food diary every day. At the same time, you must also develop the habit of exercising to maintain your basal metabolic rate from decreasing, preserve more lean meat tissue, avoid bone loss, and avoid gaining weight again.

There are also some medicines and surgeries in medicine that can help people with severe obesity. If necessary, you may come to the outpatient clinic and let the doctor further evaluate you! I hope everyone can encourage themselves, maintain a slim and healthy body, and be the master of their own health!