Obesity Fuels Womb Cancer Rates to Double in the UK

The number of women diagnosed with womb cancer doubles with obesity being the primary cause of stimulation in the UK. In the 1990s, around 19 in every 100,000 women were diagnosed with womb cancer while in 2013, 29 in every 100,000 women were diagnosed with the disease.

Experts from Cancer Research UK warn that obesity triggers the raising cases of womb cancer as a number of women tend to be overweight or obese in the country.

Currently, 9,000 women are diagnosed with womb cancer in the UK each year and around 2,000 women die from the disease.

Though experts don't know the association between obesity and cancer, they speculate that high amount of fats trigger the growth of tumors.

Professor Jonathan Ledermann, director of the Cancer Research UK and UCL Cancer Trials Center, said: “It’s worrying that womb cancer cases are going up so sharply. We don’t know all the reasons why. But we do know that about a third of cases are linked to being overweight so it’s no surprise to see the increases in womb cancer cases echo rising obesity levels.”

Cancer Research UK has warned that almost 700,000 more people could develop cancer in the next 20 years due to being overweight or obese. They also warn that by 2035, nearly three in four adults will be overweight or obese.

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They link ten types of cancer to obesity namely, womb, bowel, breast, gallbladder, liver, kidney, pancreas, esophagus, and aggressive forms of ovarian and prostate cancer.

Health experts reported that womb cancer survival rates had improved a lot. In the 1970s, only six in 10 women diagnosed with the disease survived for at least ten years. But now almost eight in 10 women survive.

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Womb cancer can be treated if diagnosed early and the common symptoms include vaginal bleeding, blood in urine and abdominal pain. Maintaining a normal weight and eating healthy diet can help in preventing womb cancer.

Source-Medindia