Link between obesity and cancer ‘poorly understood by many’

A new study has offered evidence that the link between obesity and cancer is poorly understood by many people in the UK.

The Cancer Research UK report has indicated that 75 per cent of people in the UK are unaware that obesity and cancer are connected, with men and people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds less likely to know about the link.

Whereas the majority knew that excess weight was connected to cancers of the bowel and liver, far fewer seemed aware that obesity can also heighten a person's risk of developing ovarian, breast and pancreatic cancer.

In fact, being overweight or obese is the single biggest preventable cause of cancer after smoking and is linked to an estimated 18,100 cancer cases each year in the UK, spanning ten different forms of the disease.

Alison Cox, director of prevention at Cancer Research UK, said: "It's the government's responsibility to inform the public of the link and also to take action to tackle the obesity epidemic, starting with the health of the nation's children."

She welcomed the fact that the new childhood obesity plan includes a sugary drinks tax, but said more needs to be done to prevent sugary drinks and junk food from being marketed to kids.

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