Published Jun 10, 2019

Can Fat Thighs Give You Cancer? Study Links Certain Kinds of Obesity And Aggressive Prostate Cancer

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The fact that obesity can increase a man’s risk of getting prostate cancer is not news — it’s well documented. A while back, while discussing prostate cancer in general, Cedars-Sinai urologist Dr. Stephen Freedland told SurvivorNet that being obese increases a man’s risk of not just getting prostate cancer, but dying from the disease, by 35 percent. That’s a really significant spike. Now, a new study is indicating that the risk for aggressive prostate cancer may increase depending on where in the body fat is stored. What researchers found was that men with excess thigh and abdomen fat had a higher risk of getting aggressive prostate cancer.

The study was published online in CANCER, an American Cancer Society journal, with the intention of providing new insights into how to treat prostate cancer. “This research provides support for body fat distribution as an important prognostic factor for advanced and fatal prostate cancer. This information may help to flag men for targeted intervention strategies,” study author Barbra Dickerman, Ph.D., of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told SurvivorNet.

Researchers discovered the link by analyzing body fat distribution using computed tomography imaging and assessed the risk of being diagnosed with, and dying from, prostate cancer among 1,832 Icelandic men. The men were followed for up to 13 years. The findings show that 172 of the men in the study developed prostate cancer, and 31 died of the disease. More fat in certain areas — deep in the abdomen or just beneath the skin of the thighs — was associated with the risk of developing advanced and fatal prostate cancer.

Study authors indicated that more research is needed to investigate exactly how the role of fat distribution is related to the development of these cancers, but there is hope that eventually, as Dr. Dickerman indicated, doctors can use the information to help men who may be at high risk to implement lifestyle changes before cancer develops.

While more research is needed to determine exactly how fat distribution affects risk, we do know for sure that obesity and prostate cancer risk are linked. Men worried about their weight and their risk should talk to a doctor about making some lifestyle changes to help them maintain a healthier weight. When discussing the obesity-prostate cancer link with SurvivorNet, Dr. Freedland said that the lifestyle changes should go beyond just simple weight loss strategies. “We actually sit down and actually go through some of the ways that men can make relatively small changes in their diet that over-time can lead to weight loss,” he said.

Dr. Freedland also explained that he’s done a lot of work and research on the topic, which involved speaking to many dietitians. “Amazingly, there’s actually only two things I can get all the dieticians to agree on. One is trans fats are bad; we know that. They’re getting out of the American diet and that’s good thing. The second is simple sugars are not good. They taste good; we enjoy them. But there’s really no nutriant value in them. And when you eat simple sugar, what happens is your insulin levels go up, and insulin is a growth factor for prostate cancer … it really is that simple.”

Dr. Freedland said making changes like phasing out simple sugars (cookies, cakes, candies), exercising more, and quitting harmful habits like smoking could make a great difference when it comes to reducing prostate cancer risk.

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