Losing Weight Doesn’t Cut Certain Cancer Risks: Study

While being overweight contributes to an increased risk of cancer, research shows that weight loss does not necessarily protect you from certain types of malignancy.

According to a paper published in the American Journal of Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, losing weight offers little benefit in the prevention of colon and liver cancers.

After observing obese mice and lean mice — obese mice who lost weight — researchers from the University of South Carolina discovered the incidences of cancers in both types did not change.

In the study, all of the mice were fed a high-fat diet. The obese mice and lean groups were then exposed to a carcinogen and examined to discover if losing weight was beneficial in the protection against colon polyps or cancer development.

“There were no significant differences in the polyp number (adenoma), polyp size, or grade of dysplasia,” the research team wrote about the two groups.

An increase in the markers for cancerous cell growth and liver inflammation occurred in both groups exposed to the carcinogen. The activation of a larger amount of T cells, a type of white blood cell in the immune system, occurred in the lean participants as well.

That aspect of the study involved the body’s ability to repair damage from liver inflammation. According to the researchers, “excess fat reduction did not protect mice from colon cancer progression and liver dysplastic lesion … even though these mice had improved blood glucose and leptin.”

While further research will be conducted, the results show human subjects could benefit greatly from this information obtained in this study. “Our results suggest that intentional body weight loss by diet manipulation does not provide any beneficial effects on colon tumorigenesis and it may in fact aggravate liver capacity of repair,” the research team said.