Thirteen cancers are linked to excess weight, and they are 40% of all cancers

People are overweight or have obesity when they weigh more than doctors
consider healthy for their height. Body mass index is the screening tool:
for adults, a BMI of 25.0 to 29.9 is overweight and 30.0 or higher is
obesity. About 2 in 5 adults in the United States have obesity.

For children and teenagers, BMI is calculated the same way but read
differently — against others of the same sex and age. **About 1 in 5
children and adolescents** in the United States have obesity.

The number that matters

**Being overweight or having obesity is associated with a higher risk of 13
types of cancer, and those cancers make up 40% of all cancers diagnosed in
the United States each year.**

That proportion is the reason this is a cancer topic and not only a
cardiovascular one. Two in five of every cancer diagnosis in the country falls
into the group with this association.

How excess weight leads to cancer

Being overweight or having obesity can cause:

• Long-lasting inflammation
• Higher than normal levels of insulin and insulin-like growth factor
• Higher than normal levels of sex hormones

Those changes may lead to cancer.

Two things raise the risk further, and they are separate:

1. The more excess weight a person gains
2. The longer a person is overweight

Duration is its own factor. Weight carried for twenty years is not equivalent
to the same weight carried for two.

Lowering your risk

Follow a healthy eating plan and get regular physical activity. If you
are concerned about your own weight or your child's, talk to your doctor.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.