Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta! ... The Cancer Connection

I spend a lot of my time as a physician talking about overweight and obesity with patients, pointing out the increased potential for uncontrolled diabetes, kidney disease, cardiovascular disease and other well-known effects of excessive weight.

But recent studies have given us more reason to be concerned about the growing numbers of overweight and obese children and adults in our community—that is the link between obesity and cancer. In fact most of us are unaware that obesity and overweight are among the main risk factors that can lead to many types of cancer, including but not limited to postmenopausal breast cancer, colon cancer, uterine cancer and stomach cancer.

A recent report estimated that in the United States, 14 percent of deaths from cancer in men and 20 percent of deaths in women were due to overweight and obesity.*

Our ignorance about the obesity-cancer link is similar to our society’s awareness of smoking back in the 1950 and 60’s. People simply didn’t know or didn’t believe the emerging body of evidence linking smoking to cancer. Today it would be a challenge to find someone who doesn’t know that smoking can cause lung cancer.

We need to create this same awareness for the link between obesity and cancer. We now have the scientific proof, but lack the hype and societal concern about this sobering connection. In fact, we need to realize that more and more of us could be impacted if we continue to gain weight as a community and nation.

Perhaps as word gets out it can be a wake-up call to focus our efforts, individually and as a community, on making healthier decisions and taking steps, however small, to improve the daily care of our bodies. When we think about adding years to our lives, or to our children and grandchildren’s lives, increasing our physical activity, eating more fruits and vegetables and smaller portions at each meal seems like an obvious priority.

Similarly, as citizens of a community we should prioritize city-wide options for exercise and healthy food choices. Such simple changes can literally save our lives. Cancer is known as the silent killer. Let’s not keep silent about the connection between obesity and cancer, because "Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta!" (Your Health Matters!)

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