Cancer: Obesity biggest driver of disease; cases in women rising six times faster than in men

According to the analysis by Cancer Research UK, unhealthy lifeslyle habits, mainly obesity, are to be blamed for the rise in cancer cases in both sexes.

New Delhi: A new study warns that cancer cases will increase nearly six times faster in women than in men over the next 20 years due to unhealthy lifestyles.

According to the analysis by Cancer Research UK, unhealthy lifestlyle habits, mainly obesity, are to be blamed for the rise in cancer cases in both sexes. However, women are more likely to be affected by the obesity-related cancer types.

It said that cancer cases will increase by around 0.5% for men and 3% for women – which means that an estimated 4.5 million women and 4.8 million men will be diagnosed with cancer by 2035.

Obesity is known to raise the risk of several diseases, including cancers such as womb cancer and ovarian cancer.

Being overweight has been linked to 13 different types of cancer.

Excess fat in the body can have harmful effects as it changes the levels of sex hormones, such as oestrogen and testosterone. This can increase the risk of some types of cancer.

Although smoking rates are decreasing across UK, it is another factor that is contributing to the projected rise of cancer cases among women. Alcohol also affects women’s cancer rates.

Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has predicted that there will be 17.3 lakh new cases of cancer, with breast, cervix and lung cancers being the most prominent ones, by the year 2020.