Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Study Links Excess Weight to Increased Cancer Risk

Aired April 24, 2003 - 11:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In our daily dose of health news, finding a link between excess weight and increased cancer risk. A sweeping new study says more than 90,000 cancer deaths a year could be prevented through weight loss.
Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with details on that.

Hello. Good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello. Good morning, Daryn.

Daryn, this was a huge study, more than 900,000 people.

KAGAN: Wow.

COHEN: Huge. Done by the American Cancer Society, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. And what they found is that if you weigh even just a little more, you are at a higher risk of cancer And if you weigh a lot more, you are at an even higher risk for cancer.

First, for men: severely obese men were 52 percent more likely to die from cancer than folks who were at a normal weight. For women, that increase risk of cancer death was 62 percent. Again, those are very, very high numbers.

Now what about people who are not severely obese? What about people who are just regular weight? Well, severely obese would mean, for example, if you were 6 feet tall and weighed about 300 pounds or over. So that's severe. But even for people who were just somewhat overweight, they also had an increased risk. For example, increased risk for cancer deaths started if you are 5'4", 145 pounds or more, that gave you an increased risk for getting certain cancer. At 6'0" if you weighed 184 pounds or more that also puts you at an increased risk for getting certain kinds of cancer.

Which kinds of cancer? Well, increased risk -- increased weight let to an increased risk of cancer for esophagus, colon, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, kidney, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and for men stomach and prostate cancer, and for women, breast, uterus, cervix and ovarian cancer.

So the bottom line here is that we all know that we ought to keep at a healthy weight. Here's yet another reason.

KAGAN: But do they claim why -- what they think the link is. What is it with the extra weight and the cancer?

COHEN: Yes, there are several reasons.

Two of the big ones are that being overweight affects your hormones and that that can make a big difference in your increased -- in your -- in your ability to lose weight. It also can make -- give you hyperinsulimia. In other words, it can make your insulin go totally out of whack and that's another reason. There are a couple of others. Those are two of the big ones. Insulin changes and also changes in other hormones. And so that is what they think the mechanism is.

KAGAN: Very good. Just another reminder, keep the weight in check.

COHEN: That's right.

KAGAN: For so many reasons. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired April 24, 2003 - 11:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In our daily dose of health news, finding a link between excess weight and increased cancer risk. A sweeping new study says more than 90,000 cancer deaths a year could be prevented through weight loss.
Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with details on that.

Hello. Good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello. Good morning, Daryn.

Daryn, this was a huge study, more than 900,000 people.

KAGAN: Wow.

COHEN: Huge. Done by the American Cancer Society, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. And what they found is that if you weigh even just a little more, you are at a higher risk of cancer And if you weigh a lot more, you are at an even higher risk for cancer.

First, for men: severely obese men were 52 percent more likely to die from cancer than folks who were at a normal weight. For women, that increase risk of cancer death was 62 percent. Again, those are very, very high numbers.

Now what about people who are not severely obese? What about people who are just regular weight? Well, severely obese would mean, for example, if you were 6 feet tall and weighed about 300 pounds or over. So that's severe. But even for people who were just somewhat overweight, they also had an increased risk. For example, increased risk for cancer deaths started if you are 5'4", 145 pounds or more, that gave you an increased risk for getting certain cancer. At 6'0" if you weighed 184 pounds or more that also puts you at an increased risk for getting certain kinds of cancer.

Which kinds of cancer? Well, increased risk -- increased weight let to an increased risk of cancer for esophagus, colon, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, kidney, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and for men stomach and prostate cancer, and for women, breast, uterus, cervix and ovarian cancer.

So the bottom line here is that we all know that we ought to keep at a healthy weight. Here's yet another reason.

KAGAN: But do they claim why -- what they think the link is. What is it with the extra weight and the cancer?

COHEN: Yes, there are several reasons.

Two of the big ones are that being overweight affects your hormones and that that can make a big difference in your increased -- in your -- in your ability to lose weight. It also can make -- give you hyperinsulimia. In other words, it can make your insulin go totally out of whack and that's another reason. There are a couple of others. Those are two of the big ones. Insulin changes and also changes in other hormones. And so that is what they think the mechanism is.

KAGAN: Very good. Just another reminder, keep the weight in check.

COHEN: That's right.

KAGAN: For so many reasons. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com