A rapid rise in cases of a deadly oesophagus cancer has been linked to Australia's obesity crisis, with doctors investigating whether fat tissue is feeding the tumours.
The incidence of adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus — one of the most lethal cancers — has increased fivefold in the past 25 years in Australia, according to David Whiteman, senior research fellow at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research.
"It's a real increase in cancer which you just don't see in epidemiological lifetimes," he said. "It's unprecedented to see a cancer come up so quickly."
Those at greatest risk appear to be obese people, especially men, who suffer from reflux and have smoked at some time.
Dr Whiteman has recently completed a study aiming to identify factors that might affect a person's risk of oesophageal cancer, with a particular focus on whether fat may be feeding certain cancers.
"There really is no question that this is an obesity-related cancer but the question is how and why?" he said.
"Could it be that the fat tissue itself is acting like a fertiliser? Is it producing an environment where if you have an early change that could turn into a cancer in someone with more body fat, that it is more likely to flourish, take root and grow than it would in a lean person who doesn't have the same amount of proteins flitting around the body?"
Dr Whiteman's study has been accepted for publication in the medical journal Gut, published by the British Medical Journal publishing group. His research team compared more than 1000 Australians diagnosed with oesophagus cancers with healthy people.
The participants were asked a number of questions including the nature of their symptoms prior to diagnosis.
"People often don't realise they have any problem until they get their food stuck when they swallow and when that happens usually the cancer is of a large size, which means it's resistant to treatment," Dr Whiteman said.
"It has a survival rate that's as bad as any of the bad cancers like pancreatic cancer."
According to Cancer Council Victoria, there were an average of 133 new cases of the cancer per year in Victorian men and women in 2002-04. Men are five to eight times more likely to get it than women.
One of the big risk factors associated with the cancer is reflux (heartburn) from the stomach, a condition more often suffered by overweight people.
Smoking is also a risk factor, even for people who have only smoked for a short time.
The director of Cancer Council Victoria, Professor David Hill, said the rise in adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus was concerning.
The Cancer Council has conducted a 20-year study of more than 40,000 Victorians, which looked at how lifestyle factors, including diet and exercise, affected a person's risk of developing certain cancers.
It was estimated that obesity contributed to 500 cancer deaths in Victoria each year.
The study, developed by Professor Graham Giles, found men and women who were considered overweight — with a body mass index over 25 — had an increased risk of adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus. Of the patients with the cancer, 45 per cent had the disease because they were overweight.
Professor Hill said certain cancers were associated with being overweight including cancer of the colon, endometrium, postmenopausal breast, kidney and myeloid leukaemia.
"This study shows how much impact you could make in reducing the burden of cancer by in fact changing the prevalence of the risk factor, in this case, overweight/obesity," Professor Hill said.
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The incidence of adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus — one of the most lethal cancers — has increased fivefold in the past 25 years in Australia, according to David Whiteman, senior research fellow at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research.
"It's a real increase in cancer which you just don't see in epidemiological lifetimes," he said. "It's unprecedented to see a cancer come up so quickly."
Those at greatest risk appear to be obese people, especially men, who suffer from reflux and have smoked at some time.
Dr Whiteman has recently completed a study aiming to identify factors that might affect a person's risk of oesophageal cancer, with a particular focus on whether fat may be feeding certain cancers.
"There really is no question that this is an obesity-related cancer but the question is how and why?" he said.
"Could it be that the fat tissue itself is acting like a fertiliser? Is it producing an environment where if you have an early change that could turn into a cancer in someone with more body fat, that it is more likely to flourish, take root and grow than it would in a lean person who doesn't have the same amount of proteins flitting around the body?"
Dr Whiteman's study has been accepted for publication in the medical journal Gut, published by the British Medical Journal publishing group. His research team compared more than 1000 Australians diagnosed with oesophagus cancers with healthy people.
The participants were asked a number of questions including the nature of their symptoms prior to diagnosis.
"People often don't realise they have any problem until they get their food stuck when they swallow and when that happens usually the cancer is of a large size, which means it's resistant to treatment," Dr Whiteman said.
"It has a survival rate that's as bad as any of the bad cancers like pancreatic cancer."
According to Cancer Council Victoria, there were an average of 133 new cases of the cancer per year in Victorian men and women in 2002-04. Men are five to eight times more likely to get it than women.
One of the big risk factors associated with the cancer is reflux (heartburn) from the stomach, a condition more often suffered by overweight people.
Smoking is also a risk factor, even for people who have only smoked for a short time.
The director of Cancer Council Victoria, Professor David Hill, said the rise in adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus was concerning.
The Cancer Council has conducted a 20-year study of more than 40,000 Victorians, which looked at how lifestyle factors, including diet and exercise, affected a person's risk of developing certain cancers.
It was estimated that obesity contributed to 500 cancer deaths in Victoria each year.
The study, developed by Professor Graham Giles, found men and women who were considered overweight — with a body mass index over 25 — had an increased risk of adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus. Of the patients with the cancer, 45 per cent had the disease because they were overweight.
Professor Hill said certain cancers were associated with being overweight including cancer of the colon, endometrium, postmenopausal breast, kidney and myeloid leukaemia.
"This study shows how much impact you could make in reducing the burden of cancer by in fact changing the prevalence of the risk factor, in this case, overweight/obesity," Professor Hill said.
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