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Waist Size Can Increase Endometrial Cancer Risk

LONDON, UK -- February 20, 2007 -- The average British woman, who has a 34 inch waist, is more likely to develop endometrial cancer than her slimmer sisters.

Women with a waist measurement of more than 34 inches have nearly double the risk of endometrial cancer than women whose waist is 31 inches or less – according to a Cancer Research UK international study published online today.

The risk of endometrial cancer is also almost doubled in women who have put on more than 44 pounds since the age of 20.

Obese women (those with a body mass index of 30 or more) also have almost double the risk of this kind of cancer compared to women of normal weight (those with a BMI between 19 and 25).

In each of these instances the risk of developing endometrial cancer increased by between 75% to 78% according to the study. This equates to the risk increasing from one woman in 73 to one in 40.

The study, partly funded by Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council and published today by the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) scientists, analyzed data from 223,000 women in 10 European countries to conclude that obesity, abdominal fat and adult weight gain had a strong link to endometrial cancer risk.

The study also found that the link was particularly strong in postmenopausal women and those who had never taken hormone replacement therapy nor used the contraceptive pill.

Lesley Walker, Cancer Research UK's director of cancer information, said: "According to the National Sizing Survey conducted in 2004, the average British woman now has a 34 inch waist which is over six inches bigger than the average size of a woman in the 1950s when it was 27.5 inches."

"Today's women are larger than they were when they existed on a wartime diet and were generally more active and this is having serious consequences for their health. The results of this study confirm that women carrying excess weight are much more likely to develop endometrial cancer than those women who are a normal weight," Walker added.


SOURCE: Cancer Research UK

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