Marked Weight Gain in Adulthood Increases Cancer Risk

[Pipi]

Individuals who gain a substantial amount of weight during adulthood and move into another body mass index (BMI) category have a markedly increased risk for obesity-related cancers, the results of a large analysis indicate. Men who moved from being normal weight to being overweight during adulthood had a 50% increased risk of developing obesity-related cancers compared with men who only gained steadily and stayed at a healthy weight. Among women, an increase in BMI from normal weight to being obese during adulthood was associated with a 17% increased risk for obesity-related cancers compared with women who stayed at a healthy weight.

[Jaya]

@pipi For the current analysis, the researchers examined data on approximately 300,000 individuals from a US cohort that included approximately 117,500 men and 111,500 women for whom four BMI measurements were available. The team set out to look for changes in BMI occurring from the ages of 18 to 65 years. They used latent class longitudinal models to cluster BMI trajectories over time, from which five sex-specific trajectories could be defined.