Study Finds Location of Body Fat Increases Cancer Risk, Not BMIIn other news: Actor Richard Dreyfuss' struggles with manic depression, and how breast density plays a role in breast cancer risk in younger women.
Health care professionals typically use a person’s body mass index (BMI) to determine whether or not they’re obese. But even those with a normal BMI may be at risk for cancer, diabetes, and more.
According to a study in the journal Applied Physiology, older men with a normal BMI who had fat concentrated around their stomachs and internal organs were at a high risk for cancer. Fat around the organs is known as visceral fat, while subcutaneous fat is directly under the skin.
“Men with the most visceral fat had a nearly 3 times higher risk of many types of cancer (esophagus, pancreas, colon and rectum, kidney, thyroid, and gallbladder) compared to men with little visceral fat,” Rachel Murphy, MD, a researcher with the National Institute of Aging, said in a statement. “These findings provide new insight into obesity and cancer in old age, and suggest that interventions to target visceral adipose in addition to promotion of healthy body weight may impact future cancer risk."
Women with a lot of body fat also had an increased risk for cancer, but it correlated more closely with BMI. Researchers explained this is likely because fat in women doesn’t tend to collect around the organs, showing that the location of fat may be just as important as the amount of fat.
Can You Really Be "Fit and Fat?"
Though the idea of being “fat and fit” has been heavily debated, new research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that even overweight people who were metabolically healthy were at a higher risk for health problems.
Researchers from Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto reviewed eight studies tracking more than 61,000 participants. The studies included information on body mass index (BMI), causes of death, cardiovascular events, and the body’s ability to control key biochemical processes, including cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and blood glucose. After categorizing the participants as normal weight, overweight or obese according to BMI, and healthy or unhealthy according to their metabolic status (controlling the biochemical processes), they concluded that though obese individuals can have a healthy metabolic status, they still have a larger risk of health problems such as heart disease and diabetes.
The research proves there is no such thing as “benign obesity,” according to lead study author Caroline Kramer, MD, PhD, post-doctoral fellow at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada.
Higher Breast Density Means Higher Breast Cancer Risk in Younger Women
Women who have changes in the density of their breast tissue as they age may be at a higher risk for breast cancer.
Research presented at the Radiological Society of North America showed breast cancer patients under the age of 50 had greater breast density than healthy women under age 50. The healthy women also had a steady decline in breast density as they got older.
"Women under age 50 are most at risk from density-associated breast cancer," said study senior author Nicholas Perry, director of the London Breast Institute in the United Kingdom. "Breast cancer in younger women is frequently of a more aggressive type, with larger tumors and a higher risk of recurrence."
Richard Dreyfuss on Manic Depression
Actor Richard Dreyfuss has been dealing with manic depression since the age of 9, though it didn’t make itself outwardly known until he started high school.
"I would start talking, and then I would keep talking, and then I would stand up and get louder and faster and louder and faster," he remembered, "until one of my friends would say, okay, let's get the circus cables and tie them around his ankles and pull him gently back down to earth."
Manic depression is also known as bipolar disorder, and symptoms typically start in teen or young adult years. People have mood extremes from mania to depression. Dreyfuss noted he had difficulty with his relationships growing up, and turned to drugs when he was in a depressive phase.
Learn more about Dreyfuss’ struggles with manic depression here.
Erinn Connor is a staff writer for Health Matters With Dr. Sanjay Gupta