A typical cancer patient will be someone who is skinny and emaciated. But that is when the disease is in its advanced stage.

But in the early stages, more patients are actually obese or overweight. Recent studies have shown a definite link between obesity and cancer. Below we shall look at the issue in more detail.

1. Kidney cancer in both men and women (two fold increased relative risk)
2. Endometrial cancer (one and half-fold relative risk)
3. Post menopausal breast cancer (two fold relative risk)
4. Colorectal cancer (may be related to low physical activity)
5. Gall bladder cancer
6. Thyroid cancer in women
7. Oesophageal cancer (probably related to gastric reflux)

Interestingly, obesity can be protective for the following cancers:
1. Breast cancer in pre-menopausal women
2. Lung cancer

Another interesting aspect of obesity is the death rates from cancer. It seems that most studies of obesity and breast cancer survival suggest that obese women have poorer survival than leaner women.

Being overweight or obese substantially increases the risk of dying from cancer, according to researches from the American Cancer Society.

According to a report, obese individuals have a 20% greater risk of developing colorectal cancer compared to those of normal weight.

The results also indicated that obese men at at 30% greater risk of developing the cancer compared with obese women. It showed that carrying even a few excess kilos substantially increases the risk of colorectal cancer; for every 5kg weight gain the risk of developing the cancer increases by 7%.

Overall, while the mechanisms underlying the obesity-carcinogenesis relationships are not fully understood, sufficient evidence exists to support recommendations that adults and children maintain reasonable weight for their height and ages for multiple health benefits, including decreasing the risk of cancer.

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Source: Neoplasia by Makna (National Cancer Coucil)