More than half a million people were diagnosed with obesity-related cancers in the U.S. in 2014, the CDC reported Tuesday, and those numbers aren’t expected to deflate anytime soon.
The rates of 12 cancers related to being overweight or obese have climbed by 7 percent between 2005 and 2014, Reuters reported—a jump that health officials claim could eventually reverse the progress the country has made in reducing cancer rates.
About 40 percent of all cancers diagnosed in the U.S. were obesity-related in 2014, according to the CDC’s report, and in that same year, two-thirds of the American adult population were considered either overweight or obese.
Other cancer rates have dropped, and have been falling since the '90s.
“The trends we are reporting today are concerning,” a CDC official told reporters. “There are many good reasons to strive for a healthy weight. Now you can add cancer to the list.”
Read the full Reuters story here:
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.