In a new study, researchers found a link between the concentration of body fat around the belly and waist and the risk of death from prostate cancer.
They tested more than 200,000 UK men.
The research was conducted by a team at the University of Oxford.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-specific death among men in the UK.
The disease affects one in six men during their lifetime, causing more than a quarter of all new male cancer cases, and almost 12,000 deaths every year in the UK.
There is some evidence that suggests a link between adiposity (amount of body fat) and the likelihood of dying from prostate cancer, but more research was needed to confirm this association.
In addition, more work is needed to determine whether it is not just the amount, but also the distribution of fat within the body that has an impact on risk.
The study aimed to understand how both total body fat and the distribution of fat in the body relate to fatal prostate cancer.
The team selected 218,225 men in the UK Biobank study (500,000 volunteers age 40-69 years recruited between 2006 and 2010) who were free from cancer.
Their health was followed for 10.8 years using data from health administrative databases, and details of body mass index (BMI), total body fat percentage, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio were collected when each volunteer was recruited.
During the follow-up period, 571 men died from prostate cancer.
The researchers found that while there was no clear association of BMI or total fat percentage with the cancer death risk, there was a positive link between measures of central adiposity and risk of prostate cancer death.
Those in the top 25% for waist circumference were 35% more likely to die of prostate cancer than men in the bottom 25%, while those in the top 25% for waist-to-hip ratio were 34% more likely to die than men in the bottom 25%.
The team says a high BMI increases the risk of other diseases, including other types of cancer, so people should consider the implications of excess body fat wherever it is found in the body.
One author of the study is Dr. Aurora Perez-Cornago.
The study was presented at the European and International Conference on Obesity.
Copyright © 2020 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
