Oesophageal cancer in men have risen by 50 percent
oesophagus
Cancers of the food pipe in Britain have doubled in men over 25 years, figures from Cancer Research UK show.
The Cancer Research UK figures showed that while in 1983, 9.6 in every 100,000 men in Britain were diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, now it is 14.4 — an increase of 50 percent
However, over the same period – 1983 to 2007 – cases in women only rose by 8%.
Researchers said the gender contrast in oesophageal cancer rates could be largely explained by the way men put weight on – as “beer bellies” – as well as genetic differences.
Men are also likely to have poorer diets, eating more fatty foods and lower amounts of fruit and vegetables.
It is one of the most difficult cancers to detect and treat, with only 8% surviving for five years or more. The risk of developing the disease increases with age.
Professor Jankowski said obesity may be a big reason behind the increase.
“Being overweight significantly increases the risk of adenocarcinoma – the main type of oesophageal cancer that’s on the up.
“Men tend to put weight on their abdomen as beer bellies and become oranges, – whereas women tend to put it on differently and become pears.”
He said having fat on the abdomen was riskier in this context because it put pressure on the stomach.
“Oesophageal cancer rates have risen dramatically in the UK compared with many other Western countries so we need to determine the underlying causes.
Obesity surgery rates soar in UK
Gastric banding and other weight loss surgical procedures have soared tenfold within the decade
The British Medical Journal reports operations such as gastric banding and bypasses rose from 238 a year to more than 2,543 in 2007.
Researchers from Imperial College London said more obese patients were now aware that surgery could help them.
Data for 2003/04 showed there were 480 procedures, rising to 4,246 in 2008/09.
Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said: “These figures just show how bad things have got with the obesity epidemic.
“We have altern
ative ways of losing weight but when people realise this is a possibility, they could go for it.
“A lot of doctors are also starting to skirt around the rules and not insist on months of lifestyle change and pharmaceutical treatment – instead they are going straight for surgery.”
Peter Sedman, bariatric surgeon and spokesman for the Royal College of Surgeons, said: “The number of morbidly obese patients in the UK is increasing rapidly and we need to continue to put even more resources into what is proven to be a successful and cost-effective method of treatment.
Bariatric surgery is performed on people who are dangerously obese and who need to lose weight for medical reasons. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommends bariatric surgery for people with ‘morbid obesity’, which means a body mass index of at least 40 or of at least 35 if accompanied by another disease (such as diabetes) which could improve if the patient lost weight, and for whom all non-surgical treatments for weight loss have failed.
Bariatric surgery usually involves:
Reducing the size of the stomach with a surgical band ( gastric banding)
Re-routing the small intestines to a small stomach pouch ( gastric bypass)
Removing a portion of the stomach (sleeve gastrectomy
Short-Term Overeating Has Long Term Effect
Just a few weeks of overeating may affect your weight and fat storage years later even if you lost the weight you initially added, scientists are reporting
Two years later, signs of increased body fat were still apparent, says the Linkoping University study.
The Swedish researchers studied a group of 18 adults with an average age of 26.
During the study, the details of which were published in the journal Nutrition & Metabolism, the 18 participants had their physical activity limited to 5,000 steps per day, considered to be tantamount to a sedentary lifestyle.
People who gorged on fast food for four weeks and did little exercise put on an average of 6.4kg of weight.
Six months after increasing their intake of energy-dense food by 70%, the subjects had lost most of the weight gain, nearly 5kg.
Twelve months afterwards, however, their body weight had increased by 1.5kg.
At this point, the study also found an increase in fat mass (1.4kg) but no change in fat-free mass compared to the start of the study.
After two and a half years the average increase in body weight was 3.1kg.
A separate control group, which ate and exercised as normal during the study, did not show any change in body weight.
The study suggests that even a short period of excessive eating and a lack of exercise can potentially change a person’s physiology – making it harder to lose and keep off weight.
Asa Ernersson, who led the research said: “The long term difference in body weight in the intervention and control groups suggest that there is an extended effect on fat mass after a short period of large food consumption and minimal exercise.”
“The change of fat mass was larger than expected when compared to the controls.
“It suggests that even short-term behavioural changes may have prolonged effects on health,” she said
Are asthma and hay fever drugs making you fat
Are asthma and hay fever drugs making you fat?
People who use prescription antihistamines to relieve allergy symptoms may be more likely than non-users to carry excess pounds, a new study suggests, although the significance of the connection is not yet clear.
In a study of 867 U.S. adults, researchers at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, found that prescription antihistamine users were more likely to be overweight or obese than non-users were.
Among the 268 antihistamine users, 45 percent were overweight, versus 30 percent of the 599 study participants not on the medications.
The researchers stress, however, that the findings do not prove that antihistamines are the cause of the extra pounds. This type of study, known as an observational study, can only point to an association between two variables — in this case, antihistamine use and body weight — and cannot prove cause-and-effect
Exercise control’s your appetite:new study
Exercise doesn’t just burn calories, it also curbs appetite, a study has found.
Researchers at the University of Campinas in Brazil
Suggests that pounding the treadmill fires up brain cells that tell us when we are full.
These cells process information about what the food tastes like, how much we are eating and how well it is being digested - and then work out when it is time to stop eating.
Physical activity has always been considered a cornerstone in the treatment of obesity, however, only now have the effects of exercise on the control of body weight been understood.
Thus, these findings, besides reinforcing the necessity for regular exercise also change the current paradigm established between physical activity and weight loss.
The study will be published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology.
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