8. Cancers attributable to overweight and obesity in the UK in 2010

Abstract

In 2002, the International Agency for Research on Cancer Handbook on Weight Control and Physical Activity concluded that overweight and obesity are related to cancers of the colon, endometrium, kidney and oesophagus (adenocarcinomas), as well as postmenopausal breast cancer. Since that report, continuing epidemiological investigation has suggested that other cancers are related to obesity and overweight. In addition to those listed above, the report by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) Panel on Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer (WCRF, 2007) considered that there was convincing evidence for an association with cancers of the pancreas and rectum (as well as colon), and a probable association with cancers of the gall bladder. The fraction of these cancers occurring in 2010 attributable to overweight and obesity in the UK population is estimated in this section.