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Obesity is a frequently overlooked factor that can contribute to an increased cancer risk, yet less than 10 percent of Americans are aware of this link.1 According to the National Cancer Institute,2 an estimated 84,000 annual cancer cases are linked to obesity.

Obesity may also affect the efficacy of cancer treatments. With rising obesity rates among young children in particular, it’s becoming really important to understand this link.

Childhood obesity has nearly tripled since 1980, and one in five kids is now overweight by age six; 17 percent of children and adolescents are now obese.3 Unfortunately, childhood obesity has become so prevalent that many parents fail to recognize that their children are in fact overweight.4

Research5 has confirmed this perceptual shift, concluding that overweight/obese children are now nearly 25 percent less likely to be perceived as overweight compared to the previous decade.

While body acceptance is a good thing, it can also be dangerous if potent risk factors for lethal disease are simply ignored as “normal” in the process.

As noted in a recent position statement on obesity and cancer by the American Society of Clinical Oncology6 (ASCO), obesity is “quickly overtaking tobacco as the leading preventable cause of cancer.” To address this overlooked cause of cancer, ASCO has established a “multipronged initiative,” which includes:

1. Education to raise awareness about the evidence linking obesity and cancer      2. Tools and resources to help oncology providers address obesity with their patients     

3. Research     

4. Advocating for policy and systems change to address societal factors contributing to obesity and improve access to weight management services for patients with cancer

Processed Food Drives Obesity and Cancer Epidemics

The obesity epidemic is directly related to excessive sugar consumption (virtually every single processed food is now loaded with hidden sugar and fructose, including baby food and foods thought of as “health foods”), and this is also a major driving factor for the cancer epidemic.

The link between a high-sugar diet, obesity, and cancer can be summarized in two words:

insulin resistance. Both obesity and cancer result when your body loses its ability to burn fat as fuel.