serve as a warning to people with weight problems

Possibly the most dangerous cancer known to man is pancreatic cancer and survival rates are extremely low for anybody who develops this illness. A fresh study shows that teenagers and young adults who suffer from obesity or who are merely overweight are statistically much more likely to develop cancer of the pancreas when they get older.

The study which was undertaken by the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center examined the medical data of 841 individuals who were suffering from pancreatic cancer and compared it to the medical data of 754 healthy individuals. 

The results showed that individuals who had been overweight, (BMI of 25-29) between the ages of 14 and 39, were 67 percent more likely to end up with cancer of the pancreas. Individuals who were obese (BMI 30+) between the ages of 20 and 49 were around 2½ times more likely to suffer from cancer of the pancreas. People who developed cancer of the pancreas suffered from it on average between two and six years earlier if they had been overweight or obese between the age of 20 and 49.

Lastly the researchers noted that the survival rate of individuals who were overweight or obese in the year previous to being diagnosed as having the pancreatic cancer had a significantly greater death rate irrespective of the advancement of the tumour or whether they chose surgery or not to remove it.

This research which was printed in The Journal of the American Medical Association should serve as a warning to people with weight problems that they should do something sooner rather than later about it. There are literally hundreds of illnesses which are aggravated by obesity and it is extremely unlikely that if you remain obese for many years you will be spared from some obesity related health complication.