Research
Mixed
Overweight and obesity account for a substantial proportion of cancer deaths in the U.S. population, estimated at 14% for men and 20% for women.
Maintaining a healthy weight is a powerful tool for cancer prevention. This study estimates that 14% of cancer deaths in men and 20% in women are attributable to being overweight or obese. By keeping your BMI under 25, you can significantly reduce your risk of dying from cancer.
StrongSupportsVERY_HIGH confidence
On the basis of associations observed in this study, we estimate that current patterns of overweight and obesity in the United States could account for 14 percent of all deaths from cancer in men and 20 percent of those in women.
Why this rating
Based on a large, prospective cohort with robust statistical modeling.
Source
Overweight, Obesity, and Mortality from Cancer in a Prospectively Studied Cohort of U.S. Adults
Eugenia E. Calle et al. · New England Journal of Medicine · 2003
DOI 10.1056/nejmoa021423
cohort · n=900053Cited 7,714×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
Related findings · Mixed
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