Obesity Increases Occurrence Of Cancer In Animal Study

A U.S. study in mice suggests that obesity itself, not diet, makes the colon receptive to cancer and increases the risk. Two groups of mice were fed a high-fat diet. The group that carried a human gene that protects against colorectal cancer did not gain weight. Mice without the gene became obese. But, more importantly, the obese mice exhibited molecular signals in their intestines that led to the progression of cancer. The normal weight mice did not have those same indicators. Preexisting colon lesions in the animals tended to evolve rapidly into malignant tumors. "The same thing may happen in humans," one researcher said.