Being overweight increases ovarian cancer risk

For the first time, a comprehensive report from the leading authority on diet, weight, physical activity and cancer risk finds that being overweight increases women’s risk of ovarian cancer, the most deadly gynecological cancer in the United States. The report, an analysis of the global research by the American Institute for Cancer Research and World Cancer Research Fund (AICR/WCRF), means that ovarian cancer now joins the growing list of cancers whose risk is increased by carrying excess body fat.

That list includes post-menopausal breast cancer, colorectal cancer, endometrial cancer, esophageal cancer, kidney cancer, gallbladder cancer and pancreatic cancer. Added together, approximately 585,600 cases of these eight cancers are diagnosed in the U.S. every year. AICR now estimates that being at a healthy weight could prevent 1 in 5 of these cases – or approximately 120,900 cancer cases every year.

“This is an important finding,” said Elisa V. Bandera, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, and one of the expert panelists who authored the new AICR/WCRF CUP report, “because it shows a way for women to reduce their chances of getting ovarian cancer. There is so much we don’t know about preventing ovarian cancer, but now we can tell women that keeping to a healthy weight can help protect against this deadly disease.”

The report, Ovarian Cancer 2014 Report: Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Ovarian Cancer, analyzed 25 population studies that investigated how diet, weight and activity links to ovarian cancer. The studies included 4 million women, 16,000 of whom developed ovarian cancer. The report showed a dose-response relationship: a six percent increased risk of developing ovarian cancer for every 5-point increase in BMI, a common measure of body fat.  

Stark Statistics

Every year in the U.S., approximately 14,000 women die from ovarian cancer. It is the fifth leading cause of cancer death, mainly because difficulty in detection means many women are not diagnosed until the disease’s later stages.

In the U.S., approximately two-thirds of women are overweight or obese, placing them at increased risk for developing any of the eight cancers now known to be related to body weight.