Obesity is known to cause many health related problems from heart disease to diabetes. Recent research has shown that colon cancer can be put on the list especially in the case of women. The research noted that females who were fat around their bellies were at a bigger risk of getting cancer of the colon. The research was published in the Int. Journal of Cancer, a highly repected medical publication.

In previously studies involving men and the link to colon cancer it was noted that males who carried fat around their waist (scientifically known as central adiposity) were more likely to get colon cancer. The link between colon cancer and females was less clear and less researched but this latest research project clearly proves the link especially in cases where the fat is centred on the stomach.

In the research project great care was taken to study the connection of body shape and size with colon cancer risk. All in all over 24,000 females were examined and documented for a period of ten years by looking at their weight and using bio-electrical impedance, an analytical tool that can be used to study the mass of fat present and also the fat free mass. The all important Central Adiposity was evaluated by using waist measurements and also the waist/hip ratio..

The results gave a number of 212 females being diagnosed as having cancer of the colon over the period of the study and the mean age at which the cancer of the colon appeared was 66 years old. The study also clearly showed the link between an increase in central adiposity and an increase in the likelyhood of colon cancer.

Obesity has been consistently linked to a higher chance of getting cancer of any kind and there are a host of theories as to why this happens. Reserach has shown that those people who exercise and partake of exercise normally tend to have lower rates of colon cancer and other cancers. Another theory is that a hormone that is present in fat cells called leptin is found to be more abundant in those people with colon cancer and that possibly this is the important link between being over weight or obese and colon cancer. The hormone leptin in other research tests has been noted to be able to boost the growth of colon cells laboratory experiments.

All doctors advise a good diet and physical exercise as a mean of keeping general health in check. Research consistently seems to prove the link between all types of health complications as well as cancer and obesity.