Weight loss may cut risk of cancer
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published December 27, 2006
ATLANTA - Here's another reason for men to avoid extra pounds: A new study has found that losing weight reduces the risk of an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
After tracking the weight of nearly 70,000 men from 1982 to 1992, researchers from the American Cancer Society and the Duke University Prostate Center found those who lost more than 11 pounds had a lower risk for aggressive prostate cancer than men whose weight remained the same over a decade.
Previous studies have found that obese men have a higher risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer. This study appears to be the first to indicate that recent weight loss can decrease that risk.
In the study reported this month in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, researchers tracked men from 1982 to 2003. At that time, more than 5,200 of the men - more than 7 percent - had prostate cancer.
Among those cases, about one in eight had a form of cancer that was aggressive but had not spread to other areas of the body. The study's major finding focused on those aggressive cases, with researchers concluding that those who lost 11 or more pounds were 42 percent less likely to develop that form of prostate cancer than those whose weight stayed the same.
"Whether it's exactly 40 percent, we don't know, but they lower their risk when they lose 11-plus pounds. We feel confident, at least in this population, that was real," said the lead researcher, Dr. Carmen Rodriguez.
More than seven times as many men whose weight remained the same developed aggressive prostate cancer compared to those who lost 11 or more pounds.
"No significant associations" were found regarding the effect of weight gain or loss on the most severe forms of prostate cancer, those that spread throughout the body, the study said.
The number studied was small, the researchers acknowledged, because fewer than 15,000 men lost weight over the time period, and only 1,000 of those developed some form of prostate cancer.