Obesity linked to leukemia progression, finds study

The present study was initiated by a team of experts led by Dr Steven D Mittelman from the Saban Research Institute of Children Hospital in Los Angeles.

The researchers conducted the study to find out all type of dangers related with food-induced obesity, as past studies have already associated excessive weight with augmented risk of cancers, including leukemia.

"Given the high prevalence of obesity in our society, we felt it was critical to determine if obesity actually caused the increased incidence of leukemia and not some other associated exposure," explained Dr Steven D Mittelman, a pediatric endocrinologist and lead-author of the study.

Study details
To reach at the conclusions of the study, researchers used to mouse models of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and a high-fat diet was given to induce. The rodents were grouped randomly and while one group was subjected to a high-fat diet, the second group was given a control diet.

On analysis, the researchers observed that obesity in both groups had almost similar risks of ALL progression, but the risk was more prevalent in older mice.

According to the researchers, “The finding was consistent with the type of cumulative effect seen with other exposure-related cancers, such as lung cancer related to smoking and breast cancer resulting from increased estrogen exposure.”

Examination of the dissimilarity in elder rodents also matched with the other obesity-related effects, such as heart disease, diabetes and arthritis, the researchers explained.

"Our findings are consistent with epidemiological data that show a higher incidence of leukemia in obese adults and suggests that these observations are actually due to obesity, and not some associated genetic, socio-economic, or lifestyle factor," Dr Steven Mittelman said.

He informed that the findings implied that some hormone in obese individuals promotes growth of leukemia cells in the human body.

“Since leukemia is the most common type of childhood cancer, understanding how obesity may increase its incidence could have important public health implications," he concluded.

The present study and its findings have been detailed in the latest issue of Cancer Prevention Research.

September is childhood obesity awareness month
To fight the menace of increasing cases of childhood obesity, September is being observed as the childhood obesity awareness month.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “The number of children with weight problems has increased by over 50 percent during the last decade.”