HAVING a tummy doubles women’s risk of some cancers, research reveals.
It found being apple-shaped – having a large waist and belly – significantly raised the chances of developing six common forms of the disease.
Glasgow University researchers analysed data on 385,000 people adults to spot a link between obesity and cancer.
They found carrying a spare tyre around the midriff raised overall risk by five per cent for both sexes.
But the chances of women developing womb cancer if they had fat around their waist went up 109 per cent.
Also known as endometrial or uterine cancer, it affects nearly 10,000 women a year and causes almost 2,500 deaths.
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Speaking at the European Congress on Obesity in Maastricht, lead researcher Dr Celis Morales said: “We know this particular type of fat that you tend to get around your belly is particularly bad.
“It is the fat that builds around your internal organs. That means it has more of a straining effect on them.
“This fat is generating inflammatory markers and it is this inflammation that contributes to causing cancers in the long term.”
The study looked at participants “Visceral Adiposity Index” – a measure used to assess levels of belly fat.
Research suggests it is particularly deadly, because of the way it affects key organs and alters hormone levels that can impact cancer.
The team found that those with too much belly fat increased the risk of gallbladder cancer by 83 per cent, kidney cancer by 39 per cent, liver cancer by 25 per cent, bowel cancer by 14 per cent and breast cancer by 11 per cent.
Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said: “The message couldn’t be clearer. Adipose fat – the fat that causes your stomach to protrude – can give you cancer at any level.”
Professor Tom Sanders, of King’s College London, said: “It has been known for a long time that endometrial (womb) cancer risk is increased with obesity and that oestrogen increases that risk.
“Body fat can increase tissue exposure to oestrogen.”
It comes after a warning Britain is on course to become the fattest nation in Europe by 2033 fuelled by our Deliveroo lifestyle.
A damning report warns levels of flab will rocket by a third in a decade — with nearly four in ten adults obese.
The UK currently holds the title as the tubbiest nation in Western Europe, with 27.8 per cent of Brits dangerously overweight.
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Only Malta and Turkey weigh-in heavier on the scales, according to the 220-page dossier.
But Britain will soon overtake them all on current trends to top European charts, with experts forecasting obesity levels surging to 37 per cent by the start of the next decade.
