Weight loss reduces cancer risk factor
Inflammation markers decline with diet and exercise
By Nathan Seppa
Shedding weight can knock down levels of inflammatory cells and proteins in the body, a new study shows. Since chronic inflammation is a risk factor for many cancers, the new findings suggest weight loss might reduce cancer risk.
But the inflammation reduction only came with weight loss from dieting. People who embarked on an exercise-only program failed to lower their inflammatory load substantially, despite losing several pounds in many cases. The report appears in the May 1 Cancer Research.
“This is very promising,” says Gloria Ho, a cancer epidemiologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. “This is a good study showing that if you reduce body weight you can actually lower these inflammatory markers.”
A three-way link between inflammation, obesity and cancer risk has been previously established, says study coauthor Anne McTiernan, an internist and epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. For instance, obesity has been linked to increased blood levels of a protein called C-reactive protein; those increased levels are also associated with an increased risk of breast, colon and lung cancers.