CHICAGO, (Saria news): The government is treating the fight against obesity as a priority, as a new report cautions that one in five cancer deaths is caused by it.
The West is about to see obesity replace tabacco as the leading preventable cause of the disease, the world’s biggest conference on cancer was warned.
Tens of thousand of people die because of obesity-realted causes, experts warned.
Jennifer Ligibel of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard University told the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago: “The average weight of our citizens is increasing dramatically.
We’ve really got a critical mass of evidence where we see this relationship, the heavier people are more at risk.
I think people are aware that being overweight increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes but not that it increases the risk of cancer and their risk of dying from cancer.
– JENNIFER LIGIBEL
Smoking is thought to be responsible for a quarter of Britain’s 160,000 annual cancer deaths and Dr Ligibel said obesity could surpass that figure in 10 to 15 years as the population gets fatter while giving up cigarettes.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “The Secretary of State has already mentioned that tackling obesity and diabetes will be one of his major priorities for the new Government term.”-Saria