Childhood Obesity and 'The Ticking Cancer Timebomb'

The results of a study of health in Scotland have revealed worrying evidence that there is a link between childhood obesity and an increased risk of cancer in adulthood.

The research carried out by scientists at Bristol University has discovered that the most overweight children had at a far higher risk developing pancreatic, bladder, lung, respiratory tract and mouth cancers in later life.

The study has further revealed that older children were more likely to develop the full range of cancers, which include colorectal, breast and prostate tumours, as adults.

The new studies have differed from previous ones which concentrated on obese adults and whether they are at greater risk of developing cancer.

The research by Bristol University has been hailed by obesity and cancer specialists as being the breakthrough to answering whether the disease can be triggered by lifestyle choices made much earlier in childhood.

In the UK it is considered to be important with obesity levels among British children increasing at such a high level revealing the potential health issues that are being stored up for children in later life.

Scotland has the fattest youngsters in the UK, more than one in five pre-school children are now classed as overweight, with one in five 12-year-olds are clinically obese.

The research paper, to be published in the International Journal of Cancer later this year, concludes: If the cancer risk among today’s young people mimics that of previous generations, our observations suggest that the impact of current childhood obesity on the cancer burden in the second half of this century may be substantial. Efforts to reverse the increasing prevalence of obesity must continue to be supported.

The results of the study have taken more than 10 years to compile, and include the thousands of people who took part in the groundbreaking Carnegie study that took place between 1937 and 1939.

These participants although now pensioners were at the time of the tests aged between 2 and 14 years old using the NHS Central Register they determined who had died or suffered ill health.

The initial survey, Britain’s first national survey on diet and health, was the brainchild of pioneering Scottish nutritionist Sir John Boyd Orr, founder of the Rowett Institute.

The research project was the largest study of its kind and was used to formulate Britain’s war-time food rationing system and hailed as a major advance in human nutrition.

Now the pre-war study has give scientists vital clues about the links between childhood diet and susceptibility to cancer in adulthood.

The team from Bristol discovered that children of both sexes who recorded the biggest body mass index scores were more likely to develop cancers. In the research group, those aged eight and over were more likely to develop the full range of cancers.

A Bristol University member of the research team, said there was now a strong picture emerging that the fattest children had a greater risk of developing cancer.

There is now are a growing number of studies showing that more overweight adults have a higher risk of developing cancer, as this is not the only study to indicate the link between childhood obesity and adult cancers.

The unique factor in the Bristol research is that it covers virtually the full life span of a generation covering in excess of 60 years.

A professor on the team though pointed out that children studied in the 1930s were more impoverished and may have suffered “under-nutrition” in terms of energy intake, whereas today’s children were more likely to experience poor- quality nutrition rather than insufficient calorie intake, as a result relatively few children in the original study were overweight, with less than 4% in the fattest BMI category.

The researchers say that, despite this, it is possible that today’s children may be at an even greater risk of developing cancer because they are fatter than the average in the group they studied.

Cancer is now the biggest killer in the UK, with death rates highest in Scotland, although the most deaths are caused by lung cancer, which takes the lives of more than 4000 people each year mostly as a result of smoking there are over 20,000 cases of prostate cancer, now the most common form of cancer among men, diagnosed in the UK each year.

Major types of cancers linked to obesity in adults include ovarian, breast, colon and prostate although the link is certain researchers have not come up with conclusive reasons why obesity causes cancer, the researchers believe that one reason may be that fat cells produce a build-up of cancer-causing hormones in the body.

The theory if proved would mean that people who are overweight from childhood would have a build up of dangerous chemicals over a longer period and would therefore be at a greater risk of developing cancer.

The paper has won support from cancer and obesity specialists Helen Croker, a dietician at Cancer Research UK, describing the study as “invaluable”.

Cancer Research UK say with studies are looking at the effects of children being overweight and blood pressure and glucose levels, but now people beginning to take an interest in childhood obesity and cancer with researchers trying to find out what is causing it.

Ms Croker says a lot of the public don’t even realise the link between obesity and cancer. It’s not that widely known among health professionals, either, the results of this study might help us understand a bit more about how and why there is a link.

The Government backed National Obesity Forum, described obesity as the “single biggest preventable cause of cancer after smoking”.

Their view is the research has flagged up the fact that getting cancer is something that does not happen overnight, with obese adults starting out as obese children and it now seems that is where the physiological damage began.

Given that childhood obesity has doubled over the past 15 years, it really does impress again how important it is to tackle the problem and not wait until overweight kids are fat adults.

The whole concept of nutrition needs redressing not only food advertising, but also at the way food is prepared and what is served in schools, the way children are fed at home and how they are educated about health and nutrition.

Sources: Cancer Research UK, D of H Acknowledgements; Bristol University

The results of a study of health in Scotland have revealed worrying evidence that there is a link between childhood obesity and an increased risk of cancer in adulthood.

The research carried out by scientists at Bristol University has discovered that the most overweight children had at a far higher risk developing pancreatic, bladder, lung, respiratory tract and mouth cancers in later life.

The study has further revealed that older children were more likely to develop the full range of cancers, which include colorectal, breast and prostate tumours, as adults.

The new studies have differed from previous ones which concentrated on obese adults and whether they are at greater risk of developing cancer.

The research by Bristol University has been hailed by obesity and cancer specialists as being the breakthrough to answering whether the disease can be triggered by lifestyle choices made much earlier in childhood.

In the UK it is considered to be important with obesity levels among British children increasing at such a high level revealing the potential health issues that are being stored up for children in later life.

Scotland has the fattest youngsters in the UK, more than one in five pre-school children are now classed as overweight, with one in five 12-year-olds are clinically obese.

The research paper, to be published in the International Journal of Cancer later this year, concludes: If the cancer risk among today’s young people mimics that of previous generations, our observations suggest that the impact of current childhood obesity on the cancer burden in the second half of this century may be substantial. Efforts to reverse the increasing prevalence of obesity must continue to be supported.

The results of the study have taken more than 10 years to compile, and include the thousands of people who took part in the groundbreaking Carnegie study that took place between 1937 and 1939.

These participants although now pensioners were at the time of the tests aged between 2 and 14 years old using the NHS Central Register they determined who had died or suffered ill health.

The initial survey, Britain’s first national survey on diet and health, was the brainchild of pioneering Scottish nutritionist Sir John Boyd Orr, founder of the Rowett Institute.

The research project was the largest study of its kind and was used to formulate Britain’s war-time food rationing system and hailed as a major advance in human nutrition.

Now the pre-war study has give scientists vital clues about the links between childhood diet and susceptibility to cancer in adulthood.

The team from Bristol discovered that children of both sexes who recorded the biggest body mass index scores were more likely to develop cancers. In the research group, those aged eight and over were more likely to develop the full range of cancers.

A Bristol University member of the research team, said there was now a strong picture emerging that the fattest children had a greater risk of developing cancer.

There is now are a growing number of studies showing that more overweight adults have a higher risk of developing cancer, as this is not the only study to indicate the link between childhood obesity and adult cancers.

The unique factor in the Bristol research is that it covers virtually the full life span of a generation covering in excess of 60 years.

A professor on the team though pointed out that children studied in the 1930s were more impoverished and may have suffered “under-nutrition” in terms of energy intake, whereas today’s children were more likely to experience poor- quality nutrition rather than insufficient calorie intake, as a result relatively few children in the original study were overweight, with less than 4% in the fattest BMI category.

The researchers say that, despite this, it is possible that today’s children may be at an even greater risk of developing cancer because they are fatter than the average in the group they studied.

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