Jun 23, 2009 5:50 pm US/Eastern
HealthWatch: Obesity And Pancreatic Cancer
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
We've known for years that being overweight is the main cause of the nations top killer: heart disease. But now, it's also being linked with one of the deadliest cancers.
Before Roger Giles was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he weighed 270 pounds, nearly 80 pounds more than he did as a teen.
"Living in southern Louisiana, it's high fat and fried foods," he said.
Now he's down to 185 pounds from his cancer treatments.
It turns out Giles' former obesity may in fact have played a role in his illness.
"Increasing evidence suggests that there is an association between being overweight and obesity with the risk of pancreatic cancer," said Dr. Donghui Li of the University of Texas, Anderson Cancer Center.
It is estimated that nearly 27 percent of all cases of this highly lethal cancer are due in part to excess weight.
Building on this association, Dr. Li wanted to see if the age at which someone became overweight or obese had any impact.
"She was able to ask patients to remember their weight starting in teenage years, all the way up to their diagnosis, or about a year before their diagnosis, and then related that information to the risk of pancreatic cancer," said oncologist Dr. James L. Abbruzzese.
The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association compared information from over 800 patients at the cancer center with 754 healthy individuals.
It found that being overweight or obese a year prior to diagnosis decreased a patients survival time and being overweight or obese as a teen or younger adult significantly increased an individuals risk of the cancer later in life.
"Weight control at early age, at young adulthood is most important to reduce the risk of cancer," Li said.
Looking back, Roger would change his past habits if he could. "It's a terrible price to pay for being overweight," he said.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
2009 Celebrity Deaths
Click to enlarge
Fire Leaves Dozens Homeless In The Bronx 1 min ago 
Airlines Hit Flyers With New Regulations On Miles 55 mins ago 
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments