Obesity increases the risk of prostate cancer!

WebMD Medical News: Men who lose weight may be less likely to get aggressive prostate cancer, while obesity may increase a man's risk. So say researchers, including Carmen Rodriguez, MD, MPH, of the American Cancer Society.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer (except for skin cancer) in U.S. men, becoming more common with age. This study is the first to probe links between a man's adult weight change and prostate cancer risk.

In 1992, Rodriguez and colleagues asked nearly 70,000 U.S. men about their current weight and their weight 10 years earlier. The researchers then tracked new prostate cancer cases among the men from 1992 to 2003.

Those who reported losing at least 11 pounds from 1982 to 1992 were about 40% less likely to develop aggressive (but nonmetastatic) prostate cancer between 1992 and 2003 than those with little weight change in the 1982-1992 time period.

"Our study linking obesity to aggressive prostate cancer adds to increasing evidence of the importance of maintaining a healthy weight throughout life," Rodriguez says in an American Cancer Society news release.

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