By David Liu, PHD

Friday Dec 2012 (foodconsumer.org -- Men and women who develop abdominal obesity or acquire significant weight gain during adulthood are at higher risk for liver and gallbladder cancer, according to a study in International Journal of Cancer.

S. Schlesinger from  Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel in Kiel, Germany and colleagues conducted the study and found those in  the highest tertile of waist-to-hip and waist-to-height ratio were 3.5 times and 1.5 times (per unit increase in the ratio) as likely as those in the lowest teritle to develop liver cancer and gallbladder cancer, respectively.

A total of 359,525 men and women were enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study. The researchers set out to examine the association in the study population between "between weight, body mass index, waist and hip circumference, waist-to-hip and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), weight change during adulthood and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), intrahepatic (IBDC) and extrahepatic bile duct system cancer [EBDSC including gallbladder cancer (GBC)]." 

During a mean 8.6-year follow-up, 177 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma, 58 cases of intrahepatic bile duct carcinoma and 210 cases of extrahepatic bile duct system cancer including 76 cases of gallbladder cancer were recorded.

In addition to the association between abdominal obesity and increased risk of liver cancer and gallbladder cancer, the greatest weight gain during adulthood was also positively correlated with 2.48 times increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma.

The researchers concluded "Our results provide evidence of an association between obesity, particularly abdominal obesity, and risk of HCC and GBC."