People with metabolic syndrome, which includes high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and several other conditions, are at higher risk of developing cancer, a new study has found.
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Oscar Wong/Getty Images
People with metabolic syndrome, which includes high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and several other conditions, are at higher risk of developing cancer, a new study has found.
Oscar Wong/Getty Images
Approximately one-third of Americans have metabolic syndrome. This is a group of conditions that include high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and a large waistline, which together increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
New research highlights another potential outcome: cancer.
The link between cancer and excess body fat is well established.
However, this latest study published in the journal cancertakes a broader look at this relationship, focusing on how metabolic syndrome generally increases the risk of developing various cancers.
Gerald Dennis, a molecular oncologist at Boston University, said: “At least in the American public health community, this is going on under the radar, and there are major concerns that we may not fully understand the risks.'' There are concerns.”
A China-based research team surveyed more than 40,000 people with some or all of the five factors of metabolic syndrome. They have lower levels of HDL, or “good cholesterol,” higher triglycerides, higher blood sugar levels, and larger waistlines. Metabolic syndrome is defined as having at least three of these conditions.
After measuring metabolic health over a four-year period, researchers tracked who developed cancer for about 10 years. The average age of the participants was approximately 50 years.
Studies have shown that people with metabolic syndrome have a 30% increased risk of developing some cancers in subsequent years.
“This is very convincing,” says Dennis, who was not involved in the study. “They see clustering these factors as increasing risk, which makes perfect sense to me.”
The researchers also tracked C-reactive protein, which is used to measure chronic inflammation. Metabolic syndrome and high levels of this protein are “significantly associated with subsequent breast cancer, endometrial cancer, colorectal cancer, and liver cancer,” the authors concluded.
Dennis said this ties in with a broader evidence base that points to “chronic smoldering inflammation” as a key factor associated with these cancers.
The overall findings mirror what other researchers in the field are seeing as they delve into the link between cancer and metabolic syndrome.
“We're seeing a very similar 30% risk increase,” says Machi Winn, an MD/doctoral student at the University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Institute. He recently completed a review of existing evidence that has not yet been published.
The large enrollment, prospective design, and “robust assessment of metabolic parameters” are all strengths of the new study, said Sheetal Hardika, a researcher at the Huntsman Cancer Institute who was not involved in the study. says.
But she says it's important to eliminate all metabolic risk factors.
The study used a definition of metabolic syndrome that requires, in addition to a large waistline (what the researchers call “central obesity”), two other conditions. Therefore, it was not possible to answer the extent to which cancer risk is related to other symptoms that are part of metabolic syndrome, independent of obesity.
Hardikar's lab is researching this topic. “Our study found that metabolically unhealthy but normal-weight patients were also at increased risk for cancer,” she says.
She says there is evidence that this group is actually at higher risk of cancer than people who are thought to be obese but are in good metabolic health based on blood tests. .
“It's not just BMI that's less well understood, it's also where fat is distributed and how metabolically active it is,” she says.
Future research is expected to better pinpoint which conditions increase a person's risk and by how much, given a range of metabolic problems, Winn said.
“We know that there are at least 13 types of cancer that are causally linked to obesity, but there are others, including: [high blood sugar]high blood pressure may also be contributing,” she says.
Dennis said researchers are moving away from relying on BMI because it is a “terrible” measure of risk. And he noted that the Chinese participants in the study tended to have a lower body mass index overall than their American patients.
”“These people are quite thin and their BMI is not very high, but their metabolism is so disrupted that they actually have a higher risk of cancer,” he says.
This raises concerns about “metabolic cancers in Asia and South Asia, where diabetes is exploding but not necessarily associated with morbid obesity.”
While the study may have been conducted in China, Hardiker said the study is a clear lesson for the United States, that doctors should pay attention to all risk factors holistically and “in combination, not alone.” He says it is necessary to “see”.
A final question not addressed in current research: What happens when patients with metabolic syndrome receive cancer treatment?
“Because we know they're not doing that well. So why would that be?” Dennis says, “I don't think we understand.”
