Obesity was linked to the onset of many types of cancer but prevention was the key to reducing the incidence of the disease, a seminar in Dublin was told yesterday. Christine Newman reports.
Speakers from the State, Northern Ireland and the US, at the conference on Obesity and Cancer, highlighted the association between the two.
The seminar was told the island of Ireland had one of the highest cancer incidence in the western world. Approximately 28,000 new cancer cases were diagnosed and 11,000 died from the disease each year.
Minister of State Mr Ivor Callely, opening the seminar, said: "While obesity is itself an avoidable health problem, it is also a substantial risk factor for other diseases.
An estimated 78,000 new cancer cases in the EU each year had been attributed to overweight and obesity, he said.
One in eight Irish people were obese and every second person was overweight. There had been a 30 per cent increase in reported obesity levels over the last four years, he stated.
One in five Irish children were overweight and one in twenty were obese, he added.
Prof John Nolan, Department of Clinical Medicine, St James's Hospital, Dublin, said the causes of obesity were: sedentary lifestyle, excess calories, high fat food, genetic background, and endo/autocrine.
"Prevention remains more attractive than any current treatments," Prof Nolan said.
Dr Geraldine Nolan, National Nutrition Surveillance Centre, Galway, said increased physical activity and good diet decreased the risks of cancers.
From the US National Cancer Institute, Dr Rachel Ballard-Barbash said reports estimated that obesity and physical inactivity accounted for 25 to 30 per cent of several of the major cancers.
Prof Linda Sharp of the National Cancer Registry,Cork, said that obesity increased the risks of colon cancer.
Dr Liam Murray, Queens University Belfast stated that the incidence of oesophageal cancer was increasing rapidly in the western population.
The Ireland-Northern Ireland/National Cancer Institute Cancer Consortium are leading the two-day conference as part of a scientific exchange programme on cancer prevention on the island of Ireland.