'Yo-yo dieting' not linked to cancer risk in men or women

A new study suggests that yo-yo dieting or weight cycling is not associated with increased risk of cancer in men or women.

American Cancer Society investigators found that weight cycling was not associated with overall risk of cancer in men or women after adjusting for Body Mass Index and other factors.

With almost half of American adults reporting they are trying to lose weight, and with most weight loss not maintained, weight cycling is very common.

For the study, Victoria Stevens of the American Cancer Society examined weight cycling and cancer among more than 132,000 men and women enrolled in the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort.

They looked at weight cycling and incidence for all cancer and 15 individual cancers. More than 25,000 participants developed cancer during 17 years of study.

Stevens said that the current study should be reassuring for the millions of Americans struggling to lose weight

She said that their findings suggested that overweight and obese individuals shouldn't let fears about their ability to maintain weight loss keep them from trying to lose weight in the first place.

The story is published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.