Slash your cancer risk

Being obese brings life threatening consequences, one of which is cancer.  Obesity caused by poor lifestyle choices such as diet are the cause of one in eight hospital admissions for women over the age of 50 according to information from a new study.

According to researchers  from the University of Oxford found that hospital admissions for women over 50 are commonly caused by issues related to obesity or being overweight, and that these issues accounted for roughly 2 million days in hospital a year in the UK.

This information has come to light from research that was part of the Million Women Study - one of the biggest health research projects currently being carried out in the UK.  The researchers found the information by looking at the diseases in women with a high body mass index (BMI) of more than 25, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

However, although these diseases are common with women over the age of 50 with a high BMI, the study found that most of the issues were to do with cancer.  Weight is one of the big risk factors for breast cancer, BUT it is also one of the few that can actually be altered.

Lead author, Gillian Reeves explains:

"A lot of the work I do is related to cancer.  A lot of the risk factors for breast cancer, in particular, you can't change.  In some sense, it is quite nice to think this is a modifiable risk factor - there is a lot to be gained by not putting on excess weight."

The Million Women Study estimates that the annual bill to the taxpayer by overweight or obese women over 50 and their hospital visits is around 598 million Euros based on one NHS bed costing 299€ per day.

This study has been running since 1996 and looks at changes in health of the whole population over time, looking at about a quarter of all the women in the UK between the ages of 50 and 64 with a total of 1.3 million women participating in the study.

36% of the participants were overweight, and roughly 18% were obese bringing the total of women with weight issues to 54% of the participants - this is just a few percent lower than the official figure of women in England with weight issues - 58%.

The hospital admissions for overweight women in relation to the health problems they were suffering were as follows:

• Cataract surgery = 45,000 admissions
• Gallbladder disease = 35,000 admissions
• Breast Cancer = 34,307 admissions
• Heart Disease = 32,483 admissions

The study has determined that weight was a major factor in both minor and major ailments.  Women
with a BMI over 25 were at a bigger risk for diabetes (74% of admissions) and knee replacements (66% of admissions), and one in five heart attacks were due to weight issues.  The study found that the more weight a woman gained the more likely she was to spend time in hospital and it also found that women with a BMI of higher than 25 were LESS likely to smoke or drink with meant that their health issues were due only to being overweight rather than due to other unhealthy habits.


So, choosing a healthy lifestyle with a balanced diet and regular exercise will mean that your risk of serious health problems including cancer, will be far less than if you don't.  So remember this the next time you reach for a chocolate biscuit with your mid-morning coffee.

A healthy lifestyle really is easy to achieve.  There is so much information at your fingertips that will help you to make healthy choices - your body will thank you for it and so will the medical community.  The truth is, as I said 2 weeks ago, even with everything we know nowadays about what constitutes a healthy diet and the need for regular exercise, and we are STILL getting fatter and sicker, but what it really comes down to is what YOU choose to do.

Social Nutrition:  You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Preventing Type II Diabetes

There are lots of different body shapes.  Perhaps the most well known and most talked about - especially among women - are the "pear" and "apple" shape.  The pear shape means you carry more weight around your hips, this is the least dangerous to your health as the fat is subcutaneous and doesn't cause problems, on the down side it is also the most difficult to lose.  The apple shape is when you carry excess weight around your middle - this goes for men too!  Out of the two, the apple shape is the most dangerous to your health.  The excess fat around the middle is located behind the abdominal wall and can circulate freely in the blood.  On the up side it is actually the easiest to lose.

If you have a thicker waist than you used to, then you need to keep a few things in mind.  This is an indicator of a pre-diabetes condition which, if left untreated, could result in more serious health problems such as Type II Diabetes and heart disease.  One in eight women over the age of 35 are affected by pre-diabetes.  A thick waist is a warning sign that you have a build-up of fat around your internal organs.  This visceral fat is associated with the release of proteins and hormones that have a range of health implications which include affecting our cells' sensitivity to insulin.  You can do a simple test to see if you are at risk.  Using a tape measure, measure your waist just above the hipbones.  The tape should be snug around your middle but not dig in, relax, exhale and mesure.

Waist measurements as a risk factor for pre-diabetes:

80cm or more in women

94cm or more in men

Pre-diabetes can be modified easily through lifestyle changes.  It is not actually an illness but it should be taken seriously as a preventive measure.  Pre-diabetes means that your blood glucose (sugar) levels are higher than normal, but not high enough for you to be diagnosed with Type II Diabetes - yet.  "Half of the people with pre-diabetes will go on to develop Type II Diabetes within 10 years." says Professor Melanie Davies, Honorary Consultant Physician and Professor of Diabetes Medicine at the University of Leicester.

Quite often, people associate Type II Diabetes and pre-diabetes with eating too much chocolate or sweet, sugary foods - it does, of course, influence weight gain and therefore increases the risk but sugar is just one type of carbohydrate.  Others include potatoes, pasta, bread and fruit.  On digestion, these foods are turned into glucose - another type of sugar - so blood glucose levels rise naturally after eating carbohydrates.  Pre-diabetes is a combination of genetic and environmental factors such as weight and activity levels.

It is very important to be aware of the risk factors of pre-diabetes as there are no symptoms.  Unless your blood glucose levels are tested, you won't know you have it.  As with Type II Diabetes, your risk of pre-diabetes is higher if you're over 40 years of age - or over 25 years of age if you are black or South Asian.

Other risk factors are the same as for Type II Diabetes:

• Being overweight
• Having a close family member (parent or sibling) with Type II Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• History of heart attack or stroke
• Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) together with being overweight or having had gestational diabetes

The more risk factors you have, the greater your risk of pre-diabetes.

Pre-diabetes is a health hazard because it can seriously damage your body.  As well as the increased risk of having Type II Diabetes, research shows that persistently raised blood glucose levels can cause longterm damage, especially to your heart and circulatory system.  "Someone who has pre-diabetes has a 50% higher risk of developing heart disease than someone with normal blood glucose levels - and that's regardless of whether or not they eventually develop diabetes," says Professor Davies.

However, it is fairly easy to correct this problem.  All you need to do is ensure a balanced diet and get more exercise, just doing this can take your body back to its pre-high-sugar state and cut your risk of Type II Diabetes.  It has also been proven that these lifestyle changes are even more effective than drugs.  The US Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) and other large studies, have shown that losing just 5-7% of your body weight, eating more healthily and exercising regularly prevents or delays diabetes by nearly 60%, while the drug Metformin reduced the risk of developing diabetes by just 31%.  It's so easy that age isn't even a factor, people aged 60 or older who made these lifestyle changes in the DPP lowered their risk of developing Diabetes by 70%, and many others in the lifestyle intervention group returned to normal.

So, change your diet and move more for a healthier future.


Social Nutrition:
You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com