Some four years ago, I told you about a link between the rising rate of obesity among black men and the incidence of advanced prostate cancer at a younger age. Seems a larger body mass index may have even more to do with prostate cancer than the experts thought.
Although body mass index (BMI) wasn't immediately linked to a man's odds of prostate cancer, that higher BMI number came into play after taking prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, digital rectal examination findings, prostate size and race into account.
The hard facts:
- Men with a BMI above 35 more than doubled their risk of prostate cancer.
- Gleason scores (measuring tumor aggressiveness) doubled in men with BMIs between 30-35 and quadrupled at 36 and above.
- The greatest contributor to blurring the link between BMI and prostate cancer: A higher prostate volume in obese men.
A sobering report by the American Cancer Society projects almost 600,000 people will die from cancer this year. Even worse, 60 percent of those deaths could've been prevented if Americans adopted healthier lifestyles.
The good news is that you can increase those odds, and virtually eliminate your risk of cancer, by following 11 major recommendations I posted earlier this year.
Journal of Urology, Vol. 174, No. 3, September 2005: 919-922
Yahoo News August 16, 2005