Overweight Teenagers Twice as Likely to Develop Esophageal Cancer

Is your teenager overweight? It turns out that adolescents who are overweight are almost twice as likely as their normal weigh peers to develop esophageal cancer later in life. They also found that a lower socioeconomic status and immigration from higher risk countries also were important determinants of whether a teenager develops gastric cancer later in life. The findings reveal the importance of keeping these risk factors in mind.

In order to examine how being overweight as a teenager might impact participants later in life, the researchers measured body mass index in one million Israeli adolescent males who underwent a general health examination at an average age of 17 years from 1967 to 2005. The scientists then used data from the country's cancer registry and identified which of the participants later developed cancer. Each of the participants were followed from 2.5 to almost 40 years with an average follow-up of 18.8 years.

So what did they find? It turns out that both weight and socioeconomic status had a tremendous impact upon whether or not an individual developed cancer later in life. In fact, they discovered that adolescents who were overweight had a 2.1-fold increased risk of developing esophageal cancer. In addition, they noted that teenagers who were of low socioeconomic status had a 2.2-fold increased risk of developing intestinal type gastric cancer.

"Adolescents who are overweight and obese are prone to esophageal cancer, probably due to reflux that they have throughout their life," said Zohar Levi, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We look at obesity as dangerous from cardiovascular aspects at ages 40 and over, but here we can see that it has effects much earlier."

The scientists are currently unsure whether losing weight later in life or gaining higher socioeconomic status might reduce the risks. However, the findings do reveal how environmental conditions can drastically impact cancer development. This, in turn, could help people take preventative measures in the future.

The findings are published in the journal Cancer.