According to a new study, a link may exist between obesity and prostate cancer.
"We found that overweight men were three times more likely to have their cancer spread," said Christopher J. Keto, MD, a urological oncology postdoctoral associate at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.
"Obese men were five times more likely than normal-weight men to have their cancer spread," he told WebMD.
The researchers involved narrowed their focus to 287 men who removed their prostate gland after a cancer diagnosis in order to attain their results. Once they closed in on a specific number of subjects, Keto and his colleagues observed as they all received a treatment known as androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). The goal of this, apparently, was to reduce testosterone levels which can fuel prostate cancer cell growth.
"We know, in general, obesity is a bad thing when it comes to prostate cancer," he said. But "no study out there has looked at how obesity plays into the effect with secondary treatment.
"Thirty-five percent of the men in our study had a BMI greater than 30, and 42% had a BMI of 25 to 30. So, 77% of the entire group was either overweight or obese."
Obesity was also linked to increased amounts of hormones that are associated with obesity and prostate cancer.
Previous research conducted by the American Cancer Society had noted nearly 218,000 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2010. Approximately 32,000 men ended up dying from the disease last year.
This study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association in Washington, D.C.
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