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The Impact of Obesity Intervention on Cancer: Clinical Perspectives

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Adipose Tissue and Cancer

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Abstract

Previous chapters have clearly demonstrated the underlying association between obesity and risk of specific cancer types, with particular attention focused on the role of adipose tissue in cancer development. In addition to cancer incidence risk attributed to obesity, increasing cancer recurrence risk may also be associated with obesity (Ligibel, Oncology (Williston Park) 25(11):994–1000, 2011; Protani et al., Breast Cancer Res Treat 123(3):627–635, 2010; Patlak & Nass, The role of obesity in cancer survival and recurrence: workshop summary, The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2012; Hewitt et al., From cancer patient to cancer survivor: lost in the transition. Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, Washington, DC, 2005; Demark-Wahnefried et al., Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 21(8): 1244–1259, 2012). Given the positive link between obesity and increased cancer risk, it should follow that cancer risk reduction could be achieved through intervention efforts to prevent patients from becoming overweight or obese or through weight loss in patients already identified as overweight or obese. Unfortunately, evidence supporting a favorable link between voluntary weight loss and subsequent reduced cancer risk is limited and not as conclusive as research findings that clearly demonstrate greater cancer risk with obesity. This chapter highlights the proposed clinical approaches for treating adult obesity, including bariatric surgery, and explores the degree to which these obesity interventions have been shown to favorably impact cancer incidence and cancer recurrence.

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Acknowledgments

Kenneth Adams, Ph.D., the late Eugenia Calle, Ph.D., Paul Hopkins, M.D., Richard Gress, M.S., Nan Stroup, Ph.D., Sherman Smith, M.D., Steven Simper, M.D., and Rodrick McKinlay, M.D. T.D. Adams receives partial funding through the Huntsman Fellowship—Advancing Community Cancer Prevention, Intermountain Research and Medical Foundation, Intermountain Healthcare Corporation, SLC, UT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiovascular Genetics Division, University of Utah School or Medicine (TDA, SCH), Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Ted D. Adams Ph.D., M.P.H.

  2. LiVeWell Center Salt Lake City, Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Ted D. Adams Ph.D., M.P.H.

  3. Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Jessica L. J. Greenwood M.D., M.P.H.

  4. Cardiovascular Genetics Division, University of Utah School or Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Steven C. Hunt Ph.D.

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  1. Ted D. Adams Ph.D., M.P.H.
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Correspondence to Ted D. Adams Ph.D., M.P.H. .

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  1. Science Center at Houston, Inst. Molecular Medicine, University of Texas, Pressler Street 1825, Houston, 77030, Texas, USA

    Mikhail G. Kolonin

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Adams, T.D., Greenwood, J.L.J., Hunt, S.C. (2013). The Impact of Obesity Intervention on Cancer: Clinical Perspectives. In: Kolonin, M. (eds) Adipose Tissue and Cancer. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7660-3_9

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