Interviews
Andrew Quest, University of Chile academic: “There is no awareness in the population about the increased risk of cancer due to obesity”
- January 30, 2024
- Publicado por: ACCDIS
- Category: ACCDiS in Media News Featured news
He holds a PhD in Biochemistry and is the director of the Center for Exercise Studies, Metabolism and Cancer (CEMC), will talk about the relationship between the two diseases at the Summer School in Obesity, event that will be held in Talca on Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd of this month.
-The activity will bring together scientists from Chile and Mexico who will address various aspects and links of obesity. This chronic disease affects more than 33% of people over the age of 15 in Chile, according to the 2017 National Health Interview Survey.
"Obesity is a very alarming phenomenon. It is a serious disease with serious consequences. We can't wait for a cure to come from a pharmacological point of view because, From my perspective, That's not going to happen.", says Mariana Cifuentes, PhD in Nutrition Sciences, academic of the University of Chile and who will also participate in the seminar.
On the 26th,4 percent of adults living in Chile are obese, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Health Outlook 2023 (OECD); of this mode, It exceeds the average of the nations that make up this organization, which reaches 18%. In addition, according to figures from the 2022 Nutritional Map of the National Board of School Aid and Scholarships (Junaeb), on 26,2% of children in our country are obese. The percentages increase if those who are overweight are included.
Authorities, Public Bodies, Scientists and health professionals agree that it is a matter of concern in the world and particularly in Chile, as it registers one of the highest prevalences internationally. According to calculations by the University of Chile presented in 2018, It is expected that by 2030, in our territory, The total costs attributable to overweight and obesity amount to more than 3 billion pesos annually.
METABOLIC ALTERATIONS, DIET, INFLAMMATION...
These are figures of a problem, Obesity, which has become increasingly relevant on the public agenda and will be the main theme of the Summer School in Obesity, symposium that will take place this Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd at the University of Talca, and where scientists from Chile and Mexico will present on various aspects and links of this chronic disease, including cellular responses, diet, oxidative stress, inflammation, metabolic alterations, diabetes and cancer, among others.
The activity is organized by the universities of Talca and Chile, through the Doctorate and the Master's Degree in Biomedical Sciences of the former, and the Center for Exercise Studies, Metabolism and Cancer (CEMC) of the second. To know the full program of the seminar, visitHTTPS:SummerSchool.
"Since 1975, The prevalence of obesity has nearly tripled worldwide. In 2016, Nearly two billion people were overweight, of which 650 million were obese. That year, More than 340 million children over the age of 5 and adolescents up to 19 years of age- were overweight or obese. The latter is very worrying, because the earlier the symptoms of obesity manifest themselves, the negative effects associated with this will manifest themselves.. If someone is 65 or 70 years old, And you start to be overweight and then obese, No doubt you will have problems, But the picture will probably not be as negative as the one that will affect a person who is already obese at the age of 15 or 20 and who, then, I could live about sixty years dealing with this condition.", Andrew Quest, PhD in Biochemistry, director of the CEMC and one of the speakers at the meeting.
Mariana Cifuentes, PhD in Nutritional Sciences and researcher at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA) University of Chile, he will also be exhibiting at the Summer School in Obesity. In his view, "Obesity is a very alarming phenomenon, even more so because with the high numbers we have, It starts to look like it's a normal state. It is a serious disease with serious consequences. It has many causes and needs to be approached from different perspectives, something that we as a society are not doing. We can't wait for a cure to come from a pharmacological point of view because, From my perspective, That's not going to happen. The more we understand obesity biologically, the more, But we understand that little or nothing can be done if habits and the environment do not help with change.".
The academic argues that "success in combating obesity depends on the coordination of society as a whole, including authorities, Organizations & Communities, including industry and commerce, to work in alignment for a common goal. Without this agreement, We're not going to achieve the goal. We've been trying to fight obesity for decades and it's only continued to rise.".
BODY FAT AND CANCER
Dr. Cifuentes, who is also a member of the CEMC, as well as the Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases (ACCDIS) University of Chile, will give the talk "Obesity-related diseases": an adipocentric view". The scientist explains: "I will describe the metabolic health problems that are associated with obesity. The 'adipocentric' refers to the point of view that the origin of these problems is that body fat, or adipose tissue, is impaired in its functioning, which generates the pathology".
Andrew Quest, in both, will present "The Connection of Obesity with Cancer". For the academic from the University of Chile and also a member of the Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases (ACCDIS), "There is not enough awareness in the population about the risk of obesity in terms of having, In addition, cancer. Excess weight is uncomfortable, Generates a lot of movement problems, Physical difficulties, clearly leads to cardiovascular abnormalities, Because the heart is not 'designed' for a heavier weight than a person should be; Fatty acids build up in the arteries and the arteries become clogged. But the risk of cancer from changes in the body caused by obesity, is not sufficiently visualized, in circumstances where there is enough evidence to say that the possibility of developing several types of cancer due to obesity, it certainly increases.".
The scientist explains that "it has been proven that having obesity is linked to an increased risk of presenting thirteen types of cancer. These include adenocarcinoma of the esophagus, Breast cancer in women who have gone through menopause, the colon and rectum, the one in the uterus (womb), the gallbladder, the stomach (top), the one that affects the kidneys, liver, ovary, pancreas, thyroid, Meningioma (a type of brain cancer) and multiple myeloma".
"In different countries," Dr. Quest adds, ", It has been seen that people with obesity are more likely to develop these types of cancer, But it should be clarified that just because you are obese you are not going to suffer from cancer. Perhaps this is why the profile of this relationship is lowered, And so people don't get so worried. Anyway, We need to visualize much more of the link between the two diseases, And even more so now that life expectancy has risen so much. At the beginning of the 20th century, in Latin America, for example, On average, people lived to age 29 and cancer was much less common. But today you live to be 80 and older, as is the case in Chile; then, Today, cancer is a big problem, There are many, many more cases, And if we add to this that there is more obesity and that projections point to the percentage of cases continuing to grow, then the chances of more cancer in the future also increase.".
SYSTEMIC EFFECTS, CHEMICAL CHANGES
In the opinion of the academic from the University of Chile, "We have to work around preventing obesity or, as soon as a person is overweight, to change their habits, Because when the disease progresses and cardiovascular problems or cancer appear, The risks to their health are greater and the economic costs are greater, much older".
"Not to mention the lot of everyday problems that people with obesity have, such as shortness of breath, crouch, stop, sit; having less energy to do things, and so on. All of this is causing a vicious circle: the person is obese, Then it does less, Moves less, And this, in turn, encourages them to remain obese, it makes her anxious and this leads her to eat more...", Andrew Quest exhibits.
"Along with all this," adds the researcher, There are systemic effects on the human organism, which are chemical changes that occur due to obesity and that increase the possibility of other chronic diseases. For example, People with obesity have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, where there is insulin resistance. This happens because there is an overload of the system due to the excess of fatty acids.".
The doctor in Biochemistry says that, When you overeat, "That food is stored in adipocytes, Like fat. Those lipids make adipocytes grow, which are the cells that accumulate fat exclusively in adipose tissue, which is what is colloquially known as body fat. Then, It's not that a person with obesity necessarily has more adipocytes, rather, the size and volume of these increases, And this altered adipose tissue changes its communication with the environment: Molecular signals are sent, known as adipokines, cytokines and chemokine, among others, And these instruct different bodies on how to respond. Then the fat starts to invade other organs, Like the liver. A cross-cutting effect of these molecules is inflammation: The obese person constantly suffers from inflammation, which implies that your bones are sore, Arms and other parts. Inflammation does tissue damage and this can help cells later become cancerous."(Journalist: Claudio Lobos / Agencia Inés Llambías Comunicaciones)
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