According to statistics, colorectal cancer kills 630000 people worldwide each year. Nearly1.2 million people are affected by it. In the recent study, researchers have found that the gene related to hormone adiponectin can significantly decrease the colon cancer risk. The research was done by the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

In the study, researchers analyzed the data collected from 1500 people involving New Yorkers of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry and Chicago residents. Earlier studies have shown that Ashkenazi Jews, from Europe, are at higher risk of colorectal cancer. 

Analysis of data showed that patients with the newly found gene variation were 28% less likely to develop the colon cancer than those without the gene, while Chicago residents with the gene were at 52% lower risk. Earlier studies have shown that the hormone adiponectin is secreted from fat cells. Overweight and obese people have less adiponectin secretion. Hence they are at higher risk of suffering from cancers. But it is yet not clear how this hormone is secreted from fat cells.

Boris Pasche,the lead researcher said: "Now, for the first time, we see a gene in these fat cells is linked to colon cancer."

Pasche added: "This opens the door for more research."

Evadnie Rampersaud, PhD, research assistant professor at the University of Miami's Institute for Human Genomics who was not involved in the Pasche study said: "What is unique is this is the first time anybody has identified a genetic variation, a location within the adiponectin gene, which they can link to colon cancer."