Washington, Nov 7 : According to a study based on the National survey data from the United Kingdom, it was found that overweight and obese women in the country were at an increased risk of developing and dying from cancer.

As per the figures, the statistics 5percent of all cancers i.e. about 6,000 annually can be attributed to being overweight or obese.

The survey data indicated that around 23 percent of all women in England were obese and 34 percent were overweight.

Obesity is known to be associated with excess mortality from all causes combined, but less is known about its effects on cancer.

In the study, the Cancer Research UK researchers at Oxford University examined the relation between body mass index (BMI), cancer incidence and mortality in 1.2 million UK women aged between 50 and 64 years.

Risks for all cancers, and for 17 specific types of cancer, were measured according to BMI and women were followed up for an average of 5.4 years for cancer incidence and 7 years for cancer mortality.

The analysis of the study found that women with a BMI of 25-29.9 were defined as ‘overweight’ and women with a BMI of 30 or more as ‘obese’.

A total of 45,037 new cancers and 17,203 deaths from cancer occurred over the follow-up period.

Results were adjusted for factors such as age, socio-economic status, smoking status, alcohol intake, physical activity, years since menopause, and use of hormone replacement therapy.

In general, the relation between body mass index and mortality was similar to that for incidence.

The data also revealed that menopausal status was a key factor in the relation between body mass index and risk of cancer among women, not only for those cancers that are known to be hormonally related, such as breast and endometrial cancer, but also for other common cancers not generally thought to be mediated by hormones, such as colorectal cancer and malignant melanoma.

Based on these results, the authors estimate that, among postmenopausal women in the UK, 5 percent of all cancers (about 6,000 annually) were attributable to being overweight or obese.

But the impact of being overweight or obese on cancer risk was much bigger for some cancers than for others. (ANI)