London: A study found that being overweight during adolescence may increase the risk of 18 types of cancer.
Previous studies have shown that people who are overweight or obese are more likely to develop various cancers such as breast, bowel, kidney and bladder.
Now, a major new study has found that being overweight is also linked to leukemia, while it has also been linked to cancers of the bladder, head and neck among non-smokers.
The authors of the study said that these types of cancer were not previously considered obesity-related cancers, and that obesity’s effects on cancer have been overlooked.
In the new study, published in Nature Communications, researchers analyzed data from more than 2.6 million Spanish citizens aged 40 and under who were cancer-free in 2009.
The researchers looked at the lifetime body mass index of the people involved in the study. Previous studies have used a single BMI score to determine the relationship between weight and cancer, according to the researchers.
The participants in the study were monitored for 20 years to see if they developed cancer during that time. About 225,396 people developed cancer during the study.
Spanish researchers found that people who were obese or overweight in their early teens were more likely to develop cancer.
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