Scientists explain how sudden weight loss increases the risk of developing cancer

With almost any cancer, patients lose weight. And until now, weight loss was considered one of the main symptoms of a malignant disease. But scientists decided to look at the situation from the other side: what is the likelihood of developing cancer in those who have recently purposefully lost weight? They were shocked by their discovery: it turned out that the joy of achieving the desired slimness turns into a sharp increase in the risk of developing several types of cancer over the next 12 months. The study results are published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

People who have recently lost weight have a significantly higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer within the next year. Healthcare workers who self-reported recent weight loss of more than 10% of their previous body weight were at increased risk of receiving multiple cancer diagnoses in the next 12 months, according to a new study.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston examined the annual rate of cancer diagnoses among health care workers who had been followed for an average of 28 years in various health studies and who had lost weight in the previous two years, compared with those who had not lost weight. The analysis included 157,474 participants: men and women aged 40 years and older. “We wanted to evaluate whether cancers cause weight loss before diagnosis and what types of cancers occur,” said Brian M., MD, professor of pancreatic cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Volpin.

The researchers determined recent weight change based on participants’ weight data reported every two years; They classified intention to lose weight as “high” if physical activity and diet quality increased, “moderate” if either increased, and “low” if neither increased. They then determined the incidence of cancer diagnoses within 12 months of weight loss, which served as the study’s primary outcome measure.

In the 12 months after reporting weight changes among participants with recent weight loss, researchers noted 173 cases of cancer per 100,000 people per year in people with more than 10% weight loss compared with 36 cases/100,000 in people without recent weight loss . The difference between groups was 137 cases/100,000. Among participants with recent weight loss, upper gastrointestinal cancer was particularly common.

The findings suggest a link between recent weight loss and an increased short-term risk of cancer, the scientists note. The most common types of cancer among people at risk were esophageal cancer, stomach cancer, liver cancer, biliary tract cancer, and pancreatic cancer. “We found that cancer causes weight loss before diagnosis in some patients, especially in patients with upper gastrointestinal cancer, as well as colorectal, lung and blood cancers,” said Professor Volpin. However, the risk of receiving a cancer diagnosis after recent weight loss was greater if the weight loss was unintentional. The scientists concluded that weight loss may occur before cancer diagnosis, suggesting that weight loss occurs in both early and late stages of cancer.

The authors note that more research is needed to better understand how to monitor people experiencing sudden weight loss. They stress that if people are experiencing weight loss but have not made attempts to lose weight by increasing physical activity and changing their diet, they should consult with their doctor to consider further testing if necessary.

…Today it is known that obesity is associated with at least 13 types of cancer. Not to mention the fact that it is a risk factor for the development of many dangerous diseases, primarily cardiovascular and endocrine ones. According to research, obesity increases the risk of developing colorectal cancer, breast cancer, uterine cancer, and pancreatic cancer (by 30-70%). For example, obesity in men increases the risk of developing cancer of the colon, kidney, pancreas, thyroid gland, and esophagus. In women, these types of cancer include endometrial and breast cancer. In addition, obesity is most likely associated with the development of leukemia, skin melanoma, malignant tumors in the lymphatic system, and bone marrow myeloma.

And yet, sometimes excess weight becomes… a protective factor. As general practitioner Lyudmila Inozemtseva told MK, a phenomenon called the “obesity paradox” is widely known – obese people are less likely to die from heart disease compared to patients whose weight is normal or below normal. “This fact has been confirmed by several studies around the world,” says the expert. For example, several years ago, scientists at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) analyzed information on 64,436 patients who had suffered heart attacks of various etiologies and underwent coronary angiography. It was found that the greatest risk of dying from Underweight patients with a body mass index of less than 18.5 kg/m² have their disease, and their risk is twice that of normal-weight people (21 – 23.5 kg/m²) and three times that of people with overweight and obesity (26.5 – 35 kg/m²).It was found that the graph showing the relationship between body weight and mortality has a U-shape – in addition to patients with underweight, those at high risk are also people whose index exceeds 40 kg/m².”