Scientists reveal whether your body shape puts you at risk of colorectal cancer

Your body shape may increase your risk of colorectal cancer, scientists warn.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States, with approximately 150,000 new cases expected by 2024, according to the American Cancer Society. 1 in 25 women suffer from this condition, although scientists have discovered some factors that may increase our chances of developing it.

Many lifestyle-related factors have been linked to colorectal cancer, including a diet rich in red and processed meat, smoking, alcohol abuse, and obesity. But it turns out that the way our bodies tend to gain weight may also play a role.

You may have come across “apple” and “pear” body shapes – widely used terms to describe the distribution of fat around the body. Of course, there are other body shapes, such as hourglass, inverted triangle, ruler, etc. Each one is fairly self-explanatory, but which category you fall into depends on your genetics, lifestyle, gender, and age.

Unfortunately, numerous studies have found that having an apple-shaped body shape in particular—one with a larger waist and narrower hips—may increase our risk for a variety of health problems, including heart disease and type 2 diabetes. These associations persisted even among people with healthy body mass indexes.

Now, new research suggests that fat distribution around the waist may also increase our risk of colorectal cancer.

“Body size is primarily determined by a combination of environmental and genetic factors,” said Heinz Freisling, an epidemiologist at the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Weekly newspaper.

“Other determinants of body size may be hormonal, metabolic or other unknown factors. While our genetic predisposition to a particular body type cannot be changed, we can act on environmental factors,” he said.

“For example, we know that smoking promotes fat accumulation around the waist. Being physically active, less sedentary, and eating a balanced diet can help maintain a healthy weight.”

In a study published in the journal scientific progressFreisling and colleagues found that tall people with a “centrally obese” body type, or a tall apple-shaped body, were more likely to develop colorectal cancer. General obesity is also associated with increased risk.

The study analyzed data from 329,828 participants in the UK Biobank, a biomedical repository that investigates the respective contributions of genetics and environment to the development of various diseases, to investigate the relationship between body size and cancer risk.

Next, the team combed through the genetic data of 460,198 participants to determine whether any specific genetic variants were associated with the two body types.

Overall, their findings suggest that apple-shaped individuals with generalized and central obesity are at higher risk for colorectal cancer, although the genetic mechanisms underpinning these body shapes and underlying risk factors may have different biochemical origins.

“An interesting finding of our study is that these body shapes appear to affect digestive health, specifically colorectal health, through systemic rather than local processes,” Freisling said.

“We found that more general obesity is associated with genes that are overexpressed in certain brain regions, and that more tall, central obesity is associated with genes that are overexpressed in certain brain regions. [fat] tissue. Clearly, this suggests that digestive health may originate, at least in part, in the brain and [fat] organize.”

Of course, these results are still observational, and human bodies come in all shapes and sizes. But the study is an important step toward recognizing the importance of genetic diversity and body size when considering cancer risk analyses.

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