Scientists from the University of Bristol found that lifelong excess weight almost doubles a woman’s risk of developing womb cancer.
They found that for every 5 extra BMI units, a woman’s risk of womb (endometrial) cancer is almost doubled (an increase of 88%).
Five BMI units is the difference between the overweight category and the obese category, or of a 5-foot, 5-inch adult woman being two stones (28 pounds) heavier.
The research is published in BMC Medicine and was conducted by Emma Hazelwood et al.
Womb cancer is one of the cancer types most closely linked with obesity.
It’s the most common gynecological cancer in high-income countries and is the fourth most common cancer for women in the UK—1 in 36 women will be diagnosed in their lifetime.
In the study, the team looked at genetic samples from around 120,000 women from Australia, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Sweden, the UK, and the U.S. of which around 13,000 had wombs.
The researchers looked at markers of 14 traits, which could link obesity and womb cancer. They uncovered two hormones—fasting insulin and testosterone—that increased the risk of being diagnosed with womb cancer.
They suggested that by pinpointing exactly how obesity increases the risk of cancer, such as through hormones, scientists in the future could use drugs to reduce or increase the level of these hormones in people already at a higher risk of cancer.
For example, drugs like metformin used in diabetes treatment can reduce the levels of hormones and research suggests this drug also affects cancer risk, though further study is ongoing.
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