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 Overall, women who intentionally lost 5 percent or more of their
body weight had 29 percent lower risk of developing endometrial
cancer during the study period, and the effect was most pronounced
for obese women, whose risk dropped by 66 percent with weight loss.
“We decided to do the study because we realized that, although
obesity increases the risk of endometrial cancer, research couldn’t
say if intentional weight loss, especially among older persons,
could reduce that risk,” lead author Juhua Luo, of the School of
Public Health at Indiana University in Bloomington, told Reuters
health in an email.
Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer in the U.S.
and the fourth most common cancer among women. About 2.8 percent of
American women will be diagnosed with endometrial cancer at some
point during their lifetime, according to the National Cancer
Institute.
Body fat is thought to increase risk of this hormone-sensitive
cancer by increasing the amount of estrogen a woman produces, the
researchers write in Journal of Clinical Oncology.
For their study, Luo and her colleagues analyzed data on more than
36,000 women between the ages of 50 and 79 who participated in the
larger, long-term Women’s Health Initiative study.
All the women were weighed at the beginning of the study period and
again three years later when they were also asked if they had
intentionally tried to lose weight in the previous few years. The
study team followed the women for an average of 11 more years and
found that 566 women were diagnosed with endometrial cancer during
that time.
With women whose weight remained stable as the reference point,
researchers found that women who dropped pounds were significantly
less likely to develop endometrial cancer, and those who gained
weight saw an 8 percent to 23 percent increase in risk. For women
who had not used hormone replacement therapy for menopausal symptoms
and gained weight, risk rose by 30 percent.
“It is not too late to lose weight to reduce cancer risk, even if
you are older,” Luo said.
The study only looked at older women, but Luo said she thinks it is
reasonable to think the effects might apply to younger women too,
and more research is indicated.
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“The majority of women with endometrial cancer are diagnosed with
early-stage tumors that are associated with a high cure rate.
However, despite this paradigm, not only is the incidence of
endometrial cancer increasing, but the number of women who die as a
result of the disease also is increasing,” Dr. Jason Wright, chief
of gynecologic oncology at Columbia University College of Physicians
and Surgeons and New York Presbyterian Hospital, writes in an
editorial accompanying the study.
In 2016, the number of deaths from endometrial cancer in the United
States reached 10,170, which is a 25 percent increase compared with
just five years earlier, he writes.
Luo’s findings suggest that weight loss, even by a modest amount,
can lower a woman’s risk of endometrial cancer, Wright told Reuters
Health by email.
“Fatty tissue releases estrogen which can stimulate the endometrium
and increase a woman’s risk of endometrial cancer,” Wright said.
At present, the only women for whom screening is recommended are
those with Lynch syndrome, a genetic abnormality that predisposes
women to the development of endometrial and colorectal cancer among
other cancer types, Wright noted.
“Most endometrial cancers will have symptoms early such as vaginal
bleeding. Women with vaginal bleeding should consult with their
physician for evaluation,” he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2ljEIzT and http://bit.ly/2l8a8ak Journal of
Clinical Oncology, online February 6, 2017.
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