It’s never too early to worry about the health impact of being overweight. Besides the standard best known health risks associated with obesity, there are those lesser known, but just as dangerous.
Researchers have found that obese kids between 14- and 19-years-old have a 60 percent higher chance of developing pancreatic cancer than those kids who weighed less.
“This is the first study to explore at which ages excess body weight predisposes an individual to pancreatic cancer,” said Donghui Li, professor of medicine at the University of Texas Anderson Department.
“We aimed to demonstrate the relationship between BMI (body mass index) and risk of pancreatic cancer across a patient’s life span, and determine if there was a time period that specifically predisposes an individual to the disease,” says Li.
When they got to the next age group, obese adults between 20 and 40 were two to three times more likely to develop pancreatic cancer. The risk leveled off for those who gained weight after 40. And the risk was statistically insignificant for those 50 and over.
Professor Li said the research also examined the link between BMI, cancer occurrence, and the chances of survival among the patients. Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, with only about 4 percent of those living five years beyond diagnosis.
(via: Yahoo)