Research
Hormonal
Excess adiposity (BMI ≥30) is a causal risk factor for gastrointestinal cancers, increasing incidence and mortality through endocrine, inflammatory, and mechanical pathways.
Maintain a healthy weight to reduce your risk of gastrointestinal cancers. If you are overweight, consult your doctor about structured weight loss strategies, as obesity increases cancer risk and complicates surgical outcomes.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Obesity is now a recognised carcinogen with growing implications for gastrointestinal surgical oncology. Excess adiposity promotes tumourigenesis through endocrine, inflammatory, and mechanical pathways, contributing to increased cancer incidence, stage at diagnosis, and worse oncological outcomes.
Why this rating
Supported by IARC classification, large national databases, and meta-analyses, though specific mechanistic trials in cancer patients are scarce.
Source
Obesity and gastrointestinal cancer: A converging epidemic with surgical consequence
Rathin Gosavi et al. · European Journal of Surgical Oncology · 2025
DOI 10.1016/j.ejso.2025.110358
narrative_reviewCited 2×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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