Weight And Cancer Risk
- In the age of social media, it’s not uncommon to see celebrities and influencers sharing their success stories of various weight loss drugs. Three popular options include Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro.
- If you’re considering taking a weight loss drug, talk with your care team about whether that’s a good option for you. And make sure you consider good diet and exercise practices as a part of your treatment plan.
- Being overweight or obese is clearly linked to an overall increased risk of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. One of our experts say “losing weight is a great way to reduce one's risk” for cancers.
- It’s also important to know that conditions caused or exasperated by obesity like diabetes and heart disease can pose problems for people who’ve already been diagnosed with cancer.
It’s no secret that maintaining a healthy weight is key to living a healthy life. Diet and exercise play crucial roles in doing so, but sometimes it’s appropriate for people to turn to medications when necessary.
Wegovy and Ozempic
Read More“This drug mimics a hormone that targets the areas of the brain that control appetite and can make you feel fuller sooner,” according to a post from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. “It can help someone lose about 15% of their body weightso a person who weighs 300 pounds could expect to lose 45 pounds.”
Ozempic, on the other hand, is a lower dosage of the drug semaglutide. It was first approved as a treatment for type 2 diabetes in 2017.
Ozempic is also a weekly injection, and it’s been in hot demand lately since many supplies ran low after the medication was touted by social media users and celebrities alike as an effective off-label substitute for Wegovy. Both Ozempic and Wegovy are medications from the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk.
"It really makes me mad; it infuriates me," Shane Anthony, 57, said about having to switch from Ozempic to another medication for his type 2 diabetes. "We need it to stay alive and keep functioning on an everyday basis."
According to the Cleveland Clinic, side effects of semaglutide injections you should report to your care team as soon as possible include:
- Allergic reactionsskin rash, itching, hives, swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat
- Change in vision
- Dehydrationincreased thirst, dry mouth, feeling faint or lightheaded, headache, dark yellow or brown urine
- Gallbladder problemssevere stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, fever
- Heart palpitationsrapid, pounding, or irregular heartbeat
- Kidney injurydecrease in the amount of urine, swelling of the ankles, hands, or feet
- Pancreatitissevere stomach pain that spreads to your back or gets worse after eating or when touched, fever, nausea, vomiting
- Thoughts of suicide or self-harm, worsening mood, feelings of depression
- Thyroid cancernew mass or lump in the neck, pain or trouble swallowing, trouble breathing, hoarseness
Side effects that usually do not require medical attention but you should report to your care team if they continue or are bothersome include:
- Diarrhea
- Loss of appetite
- Nausea
- Stomach pain
- Vomiting
The Cleveland Clinic also says people who use this medication should visit their care team for regular progress checks. Note that the above list may not describe all possible side effects of using a semaglutide injection. Always talk to your doctor should changes to your health occur.
The Cleveland Clinic says it may take some time for people to see the benefits from this a semaglutide injection. But they make the following recommendations for people taking a semaglutide injection:
- Drink plenty of fluids.
- Ask your care team if changes in diet or medications are needed if you have diabetes since Wegovy may affect blood sugar levels.
- Call your care team right away if you or your family notice any changes in your behavior, such as new or worsening depression, thoughts of harming yourself, anxiety, other unusual or disturbing thoughts or memory loss.
- Inform your care team if you wish to become pregnant or think they might be pregnant. Losing weight while pregnant is not advised and may cause harm to the unborn child.
Mounjaro
The last drug we’ll discuss is another weekly injection called tirzepatide brand name Mounjaro. This medication was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May 2022 to improve blood sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes, as an addition to diet and exercise.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, Mounjaro works by increasing insulin levels in your body, which decreases your blood sugar (glucose). While you take this medication, you’ll undergo monitoring in the form of a simple blood test called the HbA1C (A1C) every 3 to 6 months. This test will measure your blood sugar control over the last 2 to 3 months.
In a recent article by The Washington Post, Rachel Graham shared that she is 40 pounds lighter and still losing weight after battling excess weight for years. She had previously tried trendy diets, various drugs and even bariatric surgery with little success.
"It used to be that if I saw food, I would want to eat it," said a 54-year-old Graham who now weighs 190 pounds at 5-foot-7. "Now, if I have three or four bites of food, I don't want to eat more."
Side effects of taking this medication that you should report to your care team as soon as possible include:
- Allergic reactionsskin rash, itching, hives, swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat
- Change in vision
- Dehydrationincreased thirst, dry mouth, feeling faint or lightheaded, headache, dark yellow or brown urine
- Gallbladder problemssevere stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, fever
- Kidney injurydecrease in the amount of urine, swelling of the ankles, hands, or feet
- Pancreatitissevere stomach pain that spreads to your back or gets worse after eating or when touched, fever, nausea, vomiting
- Thyroid cancernew mass or lump in the neck, pain or trouble swallowing, trouble breathing, hoarseness
Side effects that usually do not require medical attention but you should report to your care team if they continue or are bothersome include:
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Loss of Appetite
- Nausea
- Stomach pain
- Upset stomach
- Vomiting
Again, this side effects list may not describe all possible side effects, and you should always talk to your doctor should changes to your health occur.
In addition regularly visiting your care team for progress checks, the Cleveland Clinic also recommends you do the following:
- Drink plenty of fluids.
- Learn how to check your blood sugar.
- Learn the symptoms of low and high blood sugar and how to manage them.
- Always carry a quick-source of sugar with you in case you have symptoms of low blood sugar like hard sugar candy or glucose tablets. Make sure others know that you can choke if you eat or drink when you develop serious symptoms of low blood sugar, such as seizures or unconsciousness.
- Tell your care team if you have high blood sugar. You might need to change the dose of your medication. If you are sick or exercising more than usual, you might need to change the dose of your medication.
- Do not skip meals.
- Ask your care team if you should avoid alcohol. Many nonprescription cough and cold products contain sugar or alcohol which can affect blood sugar.
- Wear a medical ID bracelet or chain, and carry a card that describes your disease and details of your medication and dosage times.
- Know that birth control may not work properly while you are taking this medication. If you take birth control pills by mouth, your care team may recommend another type of birth control for 4 weeks after you start this medication and for 4 weeks after each increase in your dose of this medication. Ask your care team which birth control methods you should use.
Weight and Cancer Risk
Being overweight or obese is clearly linked to an overall increased risk of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. And in a 2022 study out of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, researchers found that childhood obesity may lead to an early cancer diagnosis.
In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Dr. Andrea Tufano-Sugarman of NYU Langone Health talked about the importance of maintaining a healthy weight.
"While all cancers cannot be prevented, losing weight is a great way to reduce one's risk," she said.
Dr. Elizabeth Comen, a SurvivorNet advisor and medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, previously explained why carrying around excess weight can increase your breast cancer risk, specifically.
Major Reduction in Cancer Risk by Following Old Standbys Diet and Exercise
"We know that when women are overweight, they can have a state of inflammation in their bodies," she told SurvivorNet. "Some of those fat cells can make estrogen. And we know that being exposed to too much estrogen over a woman's lifetime can significantly increase her risk of breast cancer."
Dr. Stephen Freedland of Cedars Sinai Medical Center also notes that obesity can affect a person’s prostate cancer risk and prognosis.
The Link Between Obesity and Prostate Cancer
"Some of the best data we have is that obesity increases the risk of not just getting prostate cancer, but actually dying from prostate cancer,” Dr. Freeland previously told SurvivorNet. “Obese men are 35 percent more likely to die from prostate cancer."
Being overweight or obese is clearly linked with an increased risk of many types of cancer including the following:
- Breast cancer (in women past menopause)
- Colon and rectal cancer
- Endometrial cancer (cancer of the lining of the uterus)
- Esophagus cancer
- Gallbladder cancer
- Kidney cancer
- Liver cancer
- Ovarian cancer
- Pancreas cancer
- Stomach cancer
- Thyroid cancer
- Multiple myeloma
- Meningioma (a tumor of the lining of the brain and spinal cord)
Being overweight or obese might also raise the risk of other cancers such as:
- Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- Male breast cancer
- Cancers of the mouth, throat, and voice box
- Aggressive forms of prostate cancer
It’s also important to know that conditions caused or exasperated by obesity like diabetes and heart disease can pose problems for people who’ve already been diagnosed with cancer. They can lead to treatment complications, prevent people from receiving the recommended first-line therapies and even increase the risk of undergoing surgery. Overweight patients might not even have the option of surgery since removing the cancer could pose potential complications that could outweigh the benefits.
Dr. Sairah Ahmed, associate professor in the division of cancer medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, previously said focusing on diet and exercise in a healthy way can help a person with cancer feel like they have more control.
"Diet, exercise and stress control are extremely important when going through cancer therapy, as well as once you're done treating your cancer and trying to get back to the rest of your life," she said.
Dr. Ahmed wants to remind people that none of the gimmicky diets are helpful for cancer-fighting. She says the main goal should be to simply consume nutritious foods.
What to Know about Diet and Exercise if You Have Cancer
"I'm asked about keto diets, alkaline diets, no-sugar diets," she said. "Often I will tell patients there is not any one diet that has a better potential to keep their cancer away. There's no data that shows that any of those help to treat cancer any better.
"You want to have a moderate diet where you're including lots of fruits and vegetables, but you're still eating fat and protein, and you want to maintain physical exercise," she said
Dr. Ken Miller says a healthy diet and regular workout routine are important
Dr. Ken Miller, the director of outpatient oncology at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center, recommends these four things for cancer survivors to do to try and avoid another cancer diagnosis:
- Exercise at least two hours a week walking counts
- Eat a low-fat diet
- Eat a colorful diet with lots of fruits and vegetables doctors recommend two to three cups a day
- Maintain a healthy weight
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