Author: SARAH PRICE
Publication: Sun Herald (AUS)
Date: 19/06/2005
AUSTRALIANS spend too much time worrying about getting cancer from mobile phones and other unproven theories rather than the very real link between the disease and obesity.
The NSW Cancer Council says warnings linking extreme weight gain to cancer are not being heeded. A study has found nine out of 10 people don't eat enough fruit and vegetables, despite their potential to cut cancer risks.
For the first time, the council has produced figures to show the types of cancers for which obesity is a risk factor. It estimates that 39 per cent of the incidence of endometrial cancer is caused by being obese and that women with a body mass index (BMI) of greater than 25 have a twofold to threefold increase in risk.
Thirty-seven per cent of the incidence of oesophageal adenocarcinoma can be attributed to being overweight or obese. A quarter of the incidence of renal cancer can be attributed to obesity and being overweight and those with a BMI of greater than 30 have a twofold to threefold increase in risk compared with those below 25 BMI. For gall bladder cancer, the proportion due to obesity or being overweight is 24 per cent.
"We've known that obesity has been a risk factor for cancer for the past five years" the council's Kathy Chapman says.
"The evidence for it has just been growing stronger."
But while people were more convinced about the links between obesity and heart disease and diabetes, the links with cancer message was not getting through, she said. People seemed more worried about getting cancer through mobile phones and pesticides than through obesity or being overweight.
"We know obesity is a definite factor rather than mobile phones. The way we're all eating these days promotes over-consumption. Fruit and vegetables are best for snacks." A lot of products promoted as being healthy snacks were served in sizes too big. "Consumers expect everything to be bigger and more value for money," she said. For example, some juices marketed in a "regular" serve were as big as 650 millilitres, which could contain up to 400 calories, or the equivalent of more than 10 sweet biscuits.
"Eat in moderation," Chapman said. "Think whether you really need that much. Will you still feel as full with a smaller serve?"Meanwhile, a Queensland survey of 10,000 adults found nine out of 10 people were not eating the minimum daily recommended amount of fruit and vegetables.
Just 8 per cent of people had the recommended daily intake; five serves of vegetables and two serves of fruit each day. It found 12 per cent of people met the national recommendations for daily vegetable intake and 45 per cent the recommended fruit intake.
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