HAVING a beer belly can increase your risk of certain cancers if you’re a woman, research shows.
Putting on any weight increases everyone’s risk of the disease but what type you’re more at risk of depends on if you’re male or female, Swedish experts found.
GettyStoring body fat around your waist increases your risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma if you are a woman but not if you’re a man, a study shows[/caption]
Men are more at risk of breast cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma — a type of liver cancer — and renal cell carcinoma — which affects the kidneys — if they are obese.
In contrast, women are more likely to suffer gallbladder cancer, endometrial cancer, and oesophageal adenocarcinoma, a type of cancer that affects the tube you swallow food down.
Abdominal fat stored around your organs rather than under the skin increases the risk of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma in women but not men.
Dr Asa Johansson, of Uppsala University, said: “An important aspect of obesity-associated disease risk is the distribution of fat in different compartments of the body.
“Fat stored in the abdomen is considered more pathogenic compared to subcutaneous fat.
“In addition, the amount of fat stored in different compartments, as well as the rates of most cancers, is known to differ between females and males.
“These facts motivated a careful sex-stratified analysis of adiposity-related cancer risk.”
Around a quarter of Brits are obese, while a further 38 per cent are overweight.
Some 3million people were thought to be living with cancer in October 2022, according to Macmillan Cancer Support.
Rates are predicted to increase to 3.5million next year and 4million by 2030.
Levels of obesity are also increasing in Britain and experts are concerned it will soon become the leading cause of tumours.
Lead author Dr Mathias Rask-Andersen said: “Given the rapidly increasing rates of obesity globally, obesity is now the fastest-growing risk factor for overall cancer.
“Measures to prevent and reduce the occurrence of obesity and being overweight are therefore highly motivated.”
The study, published in the journal Cancer Cell, looked at data from half a million Brits who were followed for an average of 13 years.
All types of cancer apart from brain, cervical and testicular cancers were associated with obesity.
Dr Johansson said: “We were surprised to see that there appeared to be a difference in the effect of obesity on cancer risk, not only between males and females, but also between post- and pre-menopausal females.
“Most remarkable, obesity is only a risk factor for breast cancer after menopause, probably due to the change in oestrogen production in association with menopause.”