NEWS

Obesity can play big role in breast cancers

Marianne Carter

Cancer – it's a scary word. But not all cancers are inevitable. There are pro-active steps you can take to reduce your risk.

As many as two-thirds of cancers are linked with behaviors – choices that we make on a daily basis. Our decisions to smoke, eat poorly, be inactive and consume excess calories all impact our risk for developing this dreaded disease.

Most people recognize the link between tobacco use and cancer; tobacco use is implicated in about 30 percent of all cancer deaths.

The American Cancer Society reveals another one-third of cancer deaths are linked to additional lifestyle choices – things like poor diet, physical inactivity, and carrying excess weight.

The evidence that being overweight puts you at increased risk of cancer is stronger now than ever before.

After not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight is one of the most important things you can do to prevent cancer.

According to the National Cancer Institute, there's an association between obesity and an increased risk of several cancers, including the esophagus, breast (postmenopausal), endometrium (the lining of the uterus), colon and rectum, kidney, pancreas, thyroid and gallbladder.

New research reveals that for survivors, extra pounds are linked to a higher risk of recurrence of the most common type of breast cancer.

Extra body fat causes hormonal changes and inflammation that might drive some cases of breast cancer to spread and recur despite treatment.

In 2013, for the first time, Delaware's obesity rate rose above 30 percent. Currently, 66 percent of Delawarean adults are classified as either overweight or obese. Working collectively to achieve a healthy weight is an important step we can take to reduce the cancer rate in the First State.

For individuals, a necessary step is to decrease the number of calories consumed daily. It's challenging and requires effort and planning, but consider the pay-off – a reduced risk of cancer.

Tried and true strategies to lessen the number of calories we ingest include decreasing portion sizes, limiting fast foods, splitting oversized restaurant entrees, replacing high-fat snacks with fruits and vegetables, choosing lower fat dairy and meat products and limiting alcohol.

Limiting alcohol not only "saves" calories, but there is a strong correlation between the use of alcohol and increased risk of developing breast cancer. The risk increases with the amount of alcohol consumed. Women who have 2 to 5 drinks daily have a far higher risk of developing this disease than women who drink no alcohol.

For that reason, the American Cancer Society recommends that women limit their consumption of alcohol to no more than one drink a day. One drink is defined as 5 ounces of wine (a small glass), a 12-ounce beer or a mixed drink made with 1.5 ounces of liquor.

Increased physical activity is also an important weight management and cancer prevention strategy. As a society, we are slug-like in our existence – modern conveniences such as television remote controls, garage door openers, riding lawnmowers, and golf carts encourage us to be sedentary.

Exercise can help reduce body fat, which in turn lowers levels of cancer-promoting hormones such as estrogen. Adults should strive to accumulate a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate physical activity weekly.

An investment in cancer prevention through weight management, physical activity and healthy food choices is well worth the effort. And it's all within our control.

Marianne Carter is a registered dietitian and director of the Delaware Center for Health Promotion at Delaware State University.