luuk fairbanks
2008-08-02 17:15:42 UTC
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2459046/Children-to-face-double-ca
ncer-risk-of-parents-due-to-obesity.html
The children of today could be twice as likely as their parents to
develop cancer due to the growing obesity crisis, a leading health
charity warns.
Rising numbers of overweight and obese children are creating a "cancer
time bomb" in Britain, according to the World Cancer Research Fund
(WCRF).
The stark message comes just days after Alan Johnson, the Health
Secretary, said that obese children could have a life expectancy 11
years less than their slimmer classmates.
Obesity levels in this country are increasing substantially faster than
in other European nations, meaning the problem could cause our cancer
rates to increase far faster than our neighbours, the WCRF believes.
Studies have previously predicted that cancer rates in America could
double by 2050, based on current trends in the number of cancer cases as
well as known triggers for the disease, such as obesity and people
living longer.
WRCF says the growing obesity problem means that Britain faces the same
threat and the 285,000 new cases of cancer diagnosed each year in
Britain will double in the next four decades.
A third of British children are now overweight or obese. It is estimated
that half of all boys and one third of all girls will become obese as
adults.
Professor Martin Wiseman, Medical and Scientific Adviser for the WCRF,
said: "With this in mind, the increase in the number of overweight
children is deeply troubling because the more overweight a child is, the
more likely they are to be overweight as an adult.
"This means that unless things change, we are effectively sitting on a
ticking cancer time bomb. This is because the more overweight the
population becomes, the more cases of cancer we are storing up for the
future."
Scientists are increasingly pointing to obesity as a major factor in the
development of many cancers.
Being obese is linked to an increased risk of at least six different
types of cancer including post menopausal breast cancer, pancreas,
kidney and womb cancers.
Dr Colin Waine, from the National Obesity Forum, said that more people
needed to heed the warnings over how dangerous carrying extra weight
could be for their health.
He said: "There is strong evidence that obesity is linked to a number of
cancers, including post menopausal breast cancer, the most common form
of cancer in women, and in all probability being overweight probably
increases the risk of more forms of the disease than we yet realise."
He added: "Unless we wake up to this problem and start taking it
seriously we are in danger of raising a cohort of children who have a
shorter life expectancy than their parents."
Earlier this year a study by the WCRF showed that even people in the
upper range of what is considered a healthy body weight were still 15
percent more likely to develop some cancers than those at the lower end.
The WCRF said the study showed that the key to cutting the risk of
cancer was to be lean without becoming underweight.
ncer-risk-of-parents-due-to-obesity.html
The children of today could be twice as likely as their parents to
develop cancer due to the growing obesity crisis, a leading health
charity warns.
Rising numbers of overweight and obese children are creating a "cancer
time bomb" in Britain, according to the World Cancer Research Fund
(WCRF).
The stark message comes just days after Alan Johnson, the Health
Secretary, said that obese children could have a life expectancy 11
years less than their slimmer classmates.
Obesity levels in this country are increasing substantially faster than
in other European nations, meaning the problem could cause our cancer
rates to increase far faster than our neighbours, the WCRF believes.
Studies have previously predicted that cancer rates in America could
double by 2050, based on current trends in the number of cancer cases as
well as known triggers for the disease, such as obesity and people
living longer.
WRCF says the growing obesity problem means that Britain faces the same
threat and the 285,000 new cases of cancer diagnosed each year in
Britain will double in the next four decades.
A third of British children are now overweight or obese. It is estimated
that half of all boys and one third of all girls will become obese as
adults.
Professor Martin Wiseman, Medical and Scientific Adviser for the WCRF,
said: "With this in mind, the increase in the number of overweight
children is deeply troubling because the more overweight a child is, the
more likely they are to be overweight as an adult.
"This means that unless things change, we are effectively sitting on a
ticking cancer time bomb. This is because the more overweight the
population becomes, the more cases of cancer we are storing up for the
future."
Scientists are increasingly pointing to obesity as a major factor in the
development of many cancers.
Being obese is linked to an increased risk of at least six different
types of cancer including post menopausal breast cancer, pancreas,
kidney and womb cancers.
Dr Colin Waine, from the National Obesity Forum, said that more people
needed to heed the warnings over how dangerous carrying extra weight
could be for their health.
He said: "There is strong evidence that obesity is linked to a number of
cancers, including post menopausal breast cancer, the most common form
of cancer in women, and in all probability being overweight probably
increases the risk of more forms of the disease than we yet realise."
He added: "Unless we wake up to this problem and start taking it
seriously we are in danger of raising a cohort of children who have a
shorter life expectancy than their parents."
Earlier this year a study by the WCRF showed that even people in the
upper range of what is considered a healthy body weight were still 15
percent more likely to develop some cancers than those at the lower end.
The WCRF said the study showed that the key to cutting the risk of
cancer was to be lean without becoming underweight.