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OBESITY AND CANCER: AN UNDERESTIMATED TOXIC RELATIONSHIP

WAMIDH H. TALIB 1*, MOHAMMED F. AL MARJANI 2, DALAL ALNATOUR 3, LEEDIA
ABUELSHAYEB 3, ABDULLAH J. ABU RAYAN 3, ASMA ISMAIL MAHMOD 3

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Obesity is a growing global concern, with an estimated one-third of the world’s population being overweight or obese. A huge number of studies were conducted to correlate obesity with cancer, mainly with epidemiology, disease progression and survival outcomes. This review article aims at summarising the obesity-related mechanisms associated with cancer development and progression, in addition to investigating the effect of obesity on different types of cancer in terms of disease progression, prognosis and survival outcomes. Confounding factors associated with variability in the obesity-cancer link and outcomes were assessed as well, besides the obesity paradox. Included articles were reached through PubMed, the Cochrane Library and EMBASE for the period between 2017 and 2023 using both the title and keyword functions for the search terms. In conclusion, in this review, obesity was linked to higher overall cancer patient mortality. Patients with lung cancer, renal cell carcinoma and melanoma who also had obesity had a decreased likelihood of dying compared to those with the same diseases who did not have obesity. Weight loss techniques might be an effective way to lower mortality in these populations.