"The groundwork of all happiness is health." - Leigh Hunt

Body fat may predict aggressive prostate cancer.

In newspapers

Being obese not only increases your risk of prostate cancer, but it may well also mean a more aggressive and deadly cancer, in keeping with a study published online on June 10, 2019. Cancer.

Scientists found that accumulation of visceral fat (the hidden kind that's deep within the abdomen and surrounds the most important organs) and fat within the thighs (which is just below the skin) are each related to the next risk of developing prostate cancer. It was possible. As well as dying from disease.

Researchers recruited greater than 1,800 cancer-free men (average age 76) and measured their abdominal and thigh fat with CT scans. Waist size and body mass index (BMI), a measure of obesity based on an individual's height and weight, were also measured.

After about 10 years, about 170 men developed prostate cancer. Individuals with the next waist size and BMI have the next risk of advanced and malignant cancers. Specifically, a five-point increase in BMI was related to a 50% higher risk for each, and a 4.1-inch increase in waist size was related to a 40% higher risk. In addition, excess visceral fat was related to a 31% higher risk of developing advanced prostate cancer. More subcutaneous fat within the thighs was related to a 37 percent higher risk of dying from prostate cancer.

Another interesting finding was that the association between visceral fat and advanced and malignant cancers was stronger in men with a low BMI. This implies that even men with a standard BMI can have the next risk of aggressive prostate cancer depending on where they carry their excess fat, in keeping with the researchers.

He added that the findings could help discover men more more likely to develop prostate cancer, but stressed the importance of maintaining a healthy weight as a part of overall prostate cancer prevention and management.