Fat hormone 'boosts colon cancer'

A new study could help explain why severely overweight people appear to be at far greater risk of the disease. A team at the University of California, San Diego found that the hormone leptin triggered increased growth in human colon cancer cells. Obese people are up to three times more likely to develop colorectal cancer. Other researchers have already found that some colon cancer cells appear to be set up to respond to leptin, with "receptors" for the chemical on their surfaces.

The more fat cells a person has, the more leptin will be in their bloodstream. The San Diego team wanted to find further evidence of the link by watching what happened to human cancer cells exposed to the hormone. In a laboratory, they added the hormone to different varieties of cancer cell. Growth was stimulated in all the cell lines - and in two out of three tested, the hormone also hampered the usual process of programmed death that allows the body to replace normal cells, but which often malfunctions in cancers.

Steve - as we said in our April newsletter, we want to keep our fat cells happy, not sad. When fat cells proliferate and create excess hormones such as leptin, bad things are going to happen.