Does obesity increase the risk of cancer of the uterus?
Obesity has been consistently associated with uterine (endometrial) cancer. Obese women have two to four times greater risk of developing the disease than do women of a healthy weight, regardless of menopausal status (4, 27, 28, 29, 30). Increased risk has also been demonstrated among overweight women (28, 30). Obesity has been estimated to account for about 40 percent of endometrial cancer cases in affluent societies (31). It is unclear why obesity is a risk factor for endometrial cancer; however, it has been suggested that lifetime exposure to hormones and high levels of estrogen and insulin in obese women may be contributing factors (4, 27, 28, 29, 32). • Does obesity increase the risk of colon cancer? Colon cancer occurs more frequently in people who are obese than in those of a healthy weight (4, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37). An increased risk of colon cancer has been consistently reported for men with high BMIs (34, 37, 38). The relationship between BMI and risk in women, however, has bee
