ABSTRACT
Obesity is linked to many chronic health conditions including stroke, coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus, gallbladder disease, dyslipidemia, respiratory dysfunction, and certain forms of cancer. Obesity has become a growing epidemic in many regions of the world and in the United States over one-third of adults are overweight or obese. Overweight or obesity results from a chronic state of positive energy balance due to an excess of nutritional intake relative to energy expenditure. Excess weight has been associated with increased mortality from all cancers combined and for cancers of several specic sites. The exact gures are uncertain, but some studies estimate overweight and obesity account for 20% of all deaths from cancer in women and 14% in males.1 Obesity is associated with a number of malignancies including leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, multiple myeloma, breast, cervical, colorectal, esophageal, gallbladder, kidney, liver, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, stomach, and uterine cancers. In addition to increasing the risk of developing cancer, some studies show that obese or overweight patients have a poorer outcome once diagnosed with cancer. In addition to having more advanced disease at the time of diagnosis, obese
21.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 343 21.2 Potential Mechanisms ...................................................................................344 21.3 Inammation and Cancer ............................................................................. 345 21.4 Calorie Restriction ........................................................................................ 345 21.5 Physical Activity ...........................................................................................346 21.6 Colon Cancer ................................................................................................346
