London, April 24 (QNA) - Obesity is to blame for a surge in kidney cancer in the UK, causing an extra 20,000 cases in the last 10 years.
Cancer Research UK says that new cases of kidney cancer have risen steeply, by 40% over the past decade and it's expected to keep rising in the future.
Obesity and being overweight are implicated in about a quarter of kidney cancers, with smoking linked to another quarter.
Being overweight or obese is linked to 13 types of cancer, including kidney which is becoming more and more common," said Dr. Julie Sharp of Cancer Research UK.
"Similar to smoking, where damage to cells builds up over time and increases the risk of cancer, damage from carrying excess weight accumulates over a person’s lifetime".
Sarah Toule of the World Cancer Research Fund said that maintaining a healthy weight was extremely important. "In fact, if everyone was a healthy weight, around 25,000 cancer cases could be prevented every year in the UK," she said.
Scientists have not yet confirmed that kidney cancer is mainly caused by overweight, but they suspected it for having a relationship with insulin.
As Insulin hormones are important for the breakdown of carbohydrates and fats, and are partially processed in the kidneys.
Obesity can lead to insulin resistance when the body stops responding properly to insulin, leading to elevated levels of insulin in the body, which in turn causes the cells to split more quickly.
The number of cases of kidney cancer caused by obesity was calculated by combining population statistics with medical data that revealed the chances of developing the disease in overweight people. (QNA)