Almost 19,000 people a year are diagnosed with cancer which could have been prevented if they were a healthy weight, according to a leading cancer scientist.
Professor Martin Wiseman, medical and scientific adviser for World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), estimates 18,600 of UK cancer cases could be prevented if everyone had a body mass index (BMI) under 25. This includes cancer of the breast, bowel, oesophagus, kidney; pancreas, endometrium and gallbladder.
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Even more cases could be prevented if everyone was as possible within the healthy weight range - with a BMI of between 18.5 and 25. It is estimated that someone at the top of the healthy weight range is 15% more likely to develop bowel cancer than someone at the bottom of it.
Professor Wiseman said: “Every year in this country, many thousands of people are diagnosed with cancer that could have been prevented if they had maintained a healthy weight.
“We now say that, after not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight is the most important thing you can do for cancer prevention. This is the reason we recommend people aim to be as lean as possible without becoming underweight.
However, a recent survey showed almost 40% of people still do not know that excess body fat is a cause of cancer.
Professor Wiseman added: “This means we need to do more work to spread the message that maintaining a healthy weight is something positive people can do to reduce their risk of developing cancer later in life.”
Overall, scientists estimate that about a third of the most common cancers could be prevented if people ate healthily, were physically active and maintained a healthy weight.