Overweight people 'more likely to get cancer', exercise can help reduce risk: Study

Lack of exercise or physical activity could lead to increased risk of cancer, scientists at Cancer Research Institute, UK have said. In a recent statement, published on the Institute's official website, researchers highlighted that obesity and overweight caused due to lack of exercise can heighten an individual's chance of contracting the life-threatening disease. Substantiating their claim, they added that being overweight leads to people being vulnerable to tissue damage and prompts the development of a tumour.

Second biggest cause of cancer

While smoking and tobacco still remain the top causes of cancer, researchers in the UK stressed that obesity has become a very close second cause now. As the coronavirus pandemic swept across the countries, people started consuming unhealthy food and avoiding exercises, which eventually led to more people getting obese. Urging people to move their bodies, researchers warned that obesity can soon become the main cause of cancer if not controlled now.

"Being overweight doesn’t mean that you'll definitely develop cancer. But if you are overweight you are more likely to get cancer than if you are a healthy weight. Your exact risk will depend on lots of factors, including things you can't change such as your age and genetics,' an excerpt from their statement read. 

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Previously, the WHO also urged people to exercise or move, stating the risk of causing another health-related pandemic. In an update of its physical activity guidelines, the UN health agency stressed that 'exercise is vital' to physical and mental health and sedentary behaviour could have serious repercussions on an individual’s health. WHO highlighted that even before the pandemic, the majority of youth and many adults were not indulging in enough exercise. Asking people to “move their bodies,” WHO stressed that physical activities could avert as many as five million deaths each year.

"WHO urges everyone to continue to stay active through the Covid-19 pandemic. If we do not remain active, we run the risk of creating another pandemic of ill-health as a result of sedentary behaviour," the agency's head of health promotion Ruediger Krech said at a press meet. 

The scientific community has now predicted that by the year 2040 obesity is expected to top the cause of cancer in woman. The same pattern is being predicted for men a few years later too.

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