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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3911474/How-middle-age-spread-increases-cancer-risk-50-Men-need-gain-2st-7Ibs-teenage-years-retirement-raise-risk.html
Middle-age spread in men can raise their risk of getting cancer by 50 per cent, a study has found.
Men need to gain only 2st 7lb from their teenage years to retirement to be in significantly greater danger. For women, the risk of cancer rises by almost 20 per cent over a lifetime if they put on 3st 7lb.
The findings, to be presented at a National Cancer Research Institute conference in Liverpool today, shed new light on how weight gain causes cancer – most often breast and womb cancer in women and kidney and bowel cancer in both sexes.
It is not known exactly why piling on the pounds can lead to the disease, although excess fat is believed to produce hormones which help cancer to develop.
In the study of 300,000 people in the US, researchers from Manchester University looked at changes in men and women’s body mass index (BMI) between the ages of 18 and 65. By recording those who developed obesity-related cancers, they were able to determine the risk from their weight.