Overweight Teens Face Increased Risk of Cancer

August 01, 2009

According to a recent Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) report, obesity is on the rise throughout the United States.

The report, entitled F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America 2009, showed that the obesity rate increased in 23 states last year. No states had lower obesity rates this year.

In 30 states, at least 30% of children are obese or overweight. In Mississippi, 44.4% of preteens and teens aged 10-17 are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity rates have grown by more than 300% nationally since 1980.

Why is this a problem? In addition to causing chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, being overweight means an increased risk of cancer.

Specifically, a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association explained that overweight teens are at least twice as likely to have pancreatic cancer at some point than people who were never overweight. Notably, obesity caused 27% of the 841 pancreatic cancer cases in the study. Smoking caused around 25%.

So what can you do if you have overweight children or teens? In order to reduce their risk of developing cancer later in life, overweight teens (and overweight people of all ages) need to exercise and eat healthy food. If they smoke, they need to stop. Of course, even people with healthy weights should do these things, too.

As a parent, you can talk about this with your children. Once they know that being overweight gives them an increased risk of cancer, teens can make conscious choices to change their lifestyles. You can encourage your teens to take control of their health by exercising, eating well, and not smoking.

For help talking to your children about obesity, check out the Phat Fat Rap and other songs at https://www.healthrock.com/music.