beware of calories even at the restaurant – breaking latest news

Small changes, big benefits. It may have seemed like a “small” operation when it was launched in 2018, but insert calorie data into the menus of large restaurant chains contained in the different dishes has been a winning strategy, which has already helped Americans make healthier choices when they decide to cross the threshold of a fast food restaurant or restaurant. Highlighting caloric intake on menus has in fact led to a reduction in meals away from home, with beneficial consequences both on the prevention of cancer cases linked to obesity and on the health and social costs linked to therapies. To provide benefit estimates is one study recently published in the scientific journal British Medical Journal by US researchers at Tufts Universitywho calculated savings of 2.8 billion, with 28,000 cancers due to obesity avoided and 16,700 prevented deaths.

The needle of the balance continues to rise

«Several studies have clearly highlighted that excessive weight not only increases the chances of getting sick, but also of die of cancer — dice Giordano Beretta, president of the Aiom Foundation (Italian Association of Medical Oncology) —. Based on the results of various researches, 13 different types of cancer have been attributed to extra pounds, in particular those of the endometrium, liver, breast, prostate and colorectal. Unfortunately, however, the waistline of adults and children in many Western countries (including Italy) continues to grow, so much so that the World Health Organization has repeatedly spoken of an “epidemic”, which shows no signs of slowing down, but rather grows, unstoppable ». As the tip of the balance of over two billion people in the world who are overweight or obese. Excess kilos are a problem that affects 30% of the population and that causes good 4 million deaths every year, 40% or of which in people who were “only” overweight and not obese. Deaths mainly due to cardiovascular disease, but also to cancer. A serious problem already clearly visible in America, where one in three people are overweight or obese: thus, excess weight accounts for 40% of new cases of cancer diagnosed each year in the United States and 43.5% of healthcare costs (nearly $36 billion annually) for cancer, plus social costs.

The new US research

Precisely to help citizens orient themselves in decisions when they eat at restaurants, l’Affordable Care Act enacted in 2018 in the USA, it forced all chains with 20 or more stores to publish information relating to the calories of each dish on their menus. Focus of the study by academics from Tuft University in Boston was, therefore, to estimate the impact of the labels on the calories (sometimes detailed in fats, carbohydrates and proteins) contained in the various dishes on the reduction of cancer cases due to obesity in the United States. Their research is based on statistical projections for 235 million adults age 20 and older, data collected in nutritional surveys, and nationwide cancer case numbers. The conclusions indicate a saving of 20-60 calories for each restaurant meal and that those who derive the greatest benefits from “calorie labels” in terms of cancer prevention are young adults between the ages of 20 and 44the same ones who have gained more weight in recent years and have seen an increase in cancer cases.

The links between fat and cancer

«Those who are obese risk developing more aggressive and difficult to cure forms, just as they are more likely to have a recurrence of a previous cancer or to encounter complications during treatment – ​​explains Beretta, who is director of medical oncology in breaking latest news -. In the obese patient, the treatment is likely to be reduced or excessive, due to the different distribution of the drug that occurs in body fat. Fortunately we also know that Losing weight contributes concretely to improving the situation». Two parameters are important to keep your body weight under control: the waist circumference (measured at navel height) e the body mass index which is obtained by dividing the weight (expressed in kilograms) by the square of the height. But for what reasons is excess weight connected to the danger of cancer? In recent years, researchers have made a lot of progress in the possible explanations of the different mechanisms that underlie the link between excess weight and cancer. «At the moment there are above all five areas in which we are investigating to understand the cause-effect relationships between obesity and tumors – concludes Beretta -: insulin, chronic inflammation, estrogen, tumor growth factors and adipokines (substances produced by adipose tissue that have a pro-inflammatory effect). What is under accusation in particular is the type of body distribution of fat, in addition to its absolute quantity: visceral and abdominal fatlocated deep around the central organs of the body (such as intestines, heart, liver) and therefore not palpable, it is far more dangerous than subcutaneous fat which accumulates on the surface, between the skin and muscles».