Carrying extra weight around your waist increases your risk of womb cancer by a FIFTH – here’s how you can check
WOMEN Who have a higher waist to hip ratio are a fifth more likely to get womb cancer, new research suggests.
Experts from the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) carried out a detailed study into women’s reproductive health and discovered that there is a strong relationship between cancer and carrying a bit of extra weight around the waist.
And it doesn’t have to be much weight either.
Researchers found that for every 0.1 unit increase in the ratio, the risk of developing womb cancer increased by 21 per cent, they wrote in the British Medical Journal.
Women can work out their waist to hip ratio by dividing their waist circumference by their hip measurement.
So if your waist is 32 inches and your average hip measurement is 40 inches, then your hip to waist ratio is 0.8.
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A ratio above 0.85 for women or 0.90 for men is a sign of obesity and therefore a greater risk of cancer.
So, if you were to put on a bit of weight and your ratio becomes 0.9, you are 21 per cent more likely to develop cancer of the womb.
The WCRF estimates that about 25,000 cancer cases could be prevented every year in the UK if people were a healthy weight.
Dr Panagiota Mitrou, director of research funding at the WCRF said: "We know that extra weight around the waist increases the risk of a range of health conditions, such as diabetes, but this important study is helping us shine a light on how body fat around the waist could affect cancer risk.
HOW TO CHECK IF YOU ARE AT RISK
Women can work out their waist to hip ratio by dividing their waist circumference by their hip measurement. Take a tape measure and wrap it around your waist to get your waist measurement, then do they same for your hips and compare. For example, if your waist is 32 inches and your average hip measurement is 40 inches, then your hip to waist ratio is 0.8 - worked out by dividing 32 by 40. A ratio above 0.85 for women or 0.90 for men is a sign of obesity and therefore at greater risk of cancer. So, if you were to put on a bit of weight and your ratio becomes 0.9, you are 21 per cent more likely to develop cancer of the womb.
"It is incredibly important that people are aware of the dangers of excess body fat, particularly around their waist.
“After not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight is the best thing people can do to help prevent cancer."
Professor Konstantinos Tsilidis, from Imperial College London, said: "These results demonstrate how important it is for women to make sure they maintain a healthy weight in order to reduce their cancer risk."
The study also found associations between waist to hip ratio and bowel and pancreatic cancer, although these were not as strong.
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