Obesity most common cause of preventable cancer for women

Obesity will overtake smoking as the leading preventable cause of cancer in women within 25 years, experts warn. A study predicts one in ten new female cancer cases – around 23,000 a year – will be caused by excess weight by 2035, only 2,000 fewer than by tobacco. Rising obesity levels combined with falling smoking rates will see the two switch places by 2043, when 26,000 cases will be blamed on bulging waistlines. The shocking rise is because women are prone to more obesity-related cancers than men – including breast and womb cancer. The figures led to calls for official health campaigns to focus as much on the dangers of excess weight as smoking.