Research
Mixed
There is no statistically significant association between weight loss (amount or frequency) and cancer mortality in men or women.
Losing weight, whether once or repeatedly, does not appear to reduce your risk of dying from cancer based on this study. Focus on other aspects of health.
GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
We found no association between weight loss and cancer mortality... We found no association in men or women between weight loss of 5 to 10 kg... weight loss of > 10 kg... and cancer mortality
Why this rating
High-quality cohort design. The lack of association is consistent across subgroups and sensitivity analyses.
Source
Prospective study of weight loss and all-cause-, cardiovascular-, and cancer mortality
Liisa Tolvanen et al. · Scientific Reports · 2023
DOI 10.1038/s41598-023-32977-8
cohort · n=34346Cited 5×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Repeated or substantial weight loss (≥5 kg, especially >10 kg or ≥3 episodes) is associated with significantly increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in men, but not in women.Good
- Repeated weight loss (≥3 episodes of ≥5 kg) is associated with increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, regardless of the total amount lost in a single episode.Good
Related findings · Mixed
- Bariatric surgery (VSG and RYGB) is the most effective and sustainable treatment for obesity, producing marked and sustained weight loss that non-surgical interventions cannot match.Strong
- Severely protein-deficient diets (2–3% energy) induce lean body mass loss and metabolic imbalance, whereas adequate protein intake (0.66 g/kg/d minimum) is a prerequisite for maintaining muscle, bone, and physiological function.Strong
- For patients with Class III obesity (BMI >39.9 kg/m2), metabolic bariatric surgery (MBS) is significantly more effective than any currently approved medication, with BilioPancreatic Diversion (BPD) showing the highest estimated weight loss.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →