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Obesity and Cancer - Linked to What Level?

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BSE631 TermPaper Vidur Kumar (Y8560) Obesity and cancer – linked to what level? Abstract –
Obesity today is a major health issue in populations across the globe. The lifestyle changes occurring in the 21st century have resulted in ‘abundance’ of all things – including that of visceral fat in all age‐groups across the globe. There are many health‐conditions already linked with obesity – such as diabetes, high‐blood‐pressure, congestive heart‐failure, reproductive complications, etc – but, could being obese make one susceptible to cancer? Or possibly make for a worse cancer prognosis? These issues are addressed in this report, with references to many studies performed at the population level, and at the molecular level – attempting to link cancer progression (prostrate cancer), severity and occurrence, with symptoms of obesity – such as visceral fat, adipokine levels, etc. Focusing primarily on the adipokine levels in obese (cancer/non‐cancer) patients, in vitro tumour culture studies and data from prostrate/breast cancer patients – this report aims to hint at a possible mechanism which underlies cancer progression on the basis of the data from above studies and explain how obesity as a condition, fits in the mechanism of tumor progression.

Introduction to obesity –
The first aspect regarding obesity is the quantification of the physical condition called ‘obese’. For the purpose of this report (and for most of the studies referred to) – computer tomography generated measurements in the order of ~300cm2 area in the central abdominal regions (i.e. – of visceral fat), is defined as the condition for obesity. Alternatively, other quantifications, such as Wasit‐to‐Hip ratios, Body Mass Index, etc are also used to define or correlate specific aspects of body structure to the condition of being obese or its related metabolic syndromes. [9] Central

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