Obesity can increase risk of developing 'common cancers'

A new study has suggested that being overweight or obese is associated with developing common cancers like develop cancer of the liver, colon, ovaries, and post-menopausal breast cancer.

Dr Krishnan Bhaskaran, who led the research, said that there was a lot of variation in the effect of BMI on different cancers, the BBC reported.

Bhaskaran explained with an example saying that risk of cancer of the uterus amplified substantially at higher body mass index, for other cancer they saw a more reserved increase in risk or no effect at all.

Bhaskaran added that this variation told them that BMI must affect cancer risk through a number of different processes, depending on cancer type.

According to the researchers obesity was associated with the development of the most common cancers which represented 90percent of the cancers diagnosed in the UK.

Tom Stansfeld, at Cancer Research UK, said that although the relationship between cancer and obesity was complex, it was clear that carrying excess weight increased one's risk of developing cancer.