Overweight as a trigger for cancer

Obesity as a trigger for cancer could replace smoking as a major cause in the opinion of the Cancer Research Center.

According to the cancer expert Professor dr. Otmar Wietler could soon replace the increase in the obesity problem in western industrialized countries with the harmful risk factor of smoking as the main cause of cancer. Because not only cigarette consumption but also overweight increases the risk of malignant tumors.

Overweight is increasingly becoming a massive health problem in the western industrial world. More and more people are suffering from obesity and obesity. This is due to an unhealthy lifestyle, too little exercise and an unhealthy and high-calorie diet. The obesity problem will soon replace smoking as the main cause of cancer, said cancer specialist Professor Otmar Wiestler of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg. The reason for this is a massive increase in the overweight problem, according to Wiestler. According to the latest surveys by the Robert Koch Institute, 41 percent of men and 29 percent of women in Germany are overweight. Tendency continues to increase. The physician expects more cancer in the future, because people increasingly have a longer life expectancy and getting older. However, the expert also expects a higher cure rate through improved individual therapies and anticancer drugs.

450,000 new cancer cases this year
According to Prof. Wiestler, around 450,000 people in Germany were newly diagnosed with cancer in 2010. About half of the patients successfully mastered cancer therapy and were cured. In about 30 percent of the diseases smoking was the main cause. In the Federal Republic of Germany about 200,000 people die from cancer every year. Cancer is the second most common cause of death after cardiovascular disease.

Increase in cancer is expected
Overall, the scientists expect an increase in cancer. According to the German Cancer Research Center, this has to do with the fact that people are getting older and older. "Cancers are diseases that occur especially in old age." The reason for this is not "that we now have new risk factors for cancer affect us, of which we knew nothing," said the cancer researcher Wiestler. In recent years, the researchers have observed a rapid increase in cancer cases, which are related to obesity as a risk factor. These cancers are mainly esophageal cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, kidney cancer and pancreatic cancer. Although it is likely that the higher rates of cancer are related to the increase in obesity, the exact reason has not yet been established. "This is an important topic for research in the next stage," explained Prof. Wiestler.

Individual anticancer drugs
The cancer expert is convinced that overall chances of recovery will improve in the future. The scientists have now "in the majority of all cancers a relatively good idea", which changes in the genome and in the cells of the patient ran. "This makes it possible to develop drugs that attack precisely those changes". More and more drugs are being designed that can be individually tailored to the patient. Because the cancers also differ within the individual cancers. For this reason, the cancer must be treated differently. Future-oriented treatment options will enable many patients to live with cancer for many years, even if a particular type of cancer is no longer curable. In the opinion of the expert, the drugs would also have to be combined with chemotherapy or radiation or with each other and with a third component. „This will allow more and more cancer to be brought to a stage where you can live well with it for many years, even though you may not always be able to completely eliminate it or heal it. And overall, the cure rates will also increase.“ (Sb)

The German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) is the largest biomedical research institution in Germany with more than 2,500 employees. More than 1,000 scientists at the DKFZ are researching how cancer develops, detecting cancer risk factors and looking for new strategies to prevent people from getting cancer. They are developing new approaches to diagnose tumors more precisely and treat cancer patients more effectively.

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Picture: by-sassi