Overview
- Researchers from Lund University reported at the European Congress on Obesity that steeper weight gain from ages 17 to 60 was linked to higher cancer rates.
- The observational study used four weight checks each for more than 630,000 people in Sweden and tracked cancer diagnoses through 2023.
- Compared with the lowest gainers, the top fifth had a 7% higher all-cancer risk in men and 17% in women, and about a 46% higher risk in men and 43% in women for cancers already tied to obesity.
- Obesity beginning before age 30 was tied to especially large increases in specific cancers, including a fivefold rise in liver cancer in men and a 4.5-fold rise in endometrial cancer in women.
- A separate review at the same meeting found roughly one third of weight lost on injection drugs came from muscle and bone, which raised calls for strength training and long-term safety checks.