Monday, September 21, 2015

Put Down the Fork & Step away from the Table: “Overweight, obesity may increase brain tumor risk”



Here’s something I didn’t expect, according to the results of a new study carried out by Gundula Behrens, PhD, of the University of Regensburg in Germany, being overweight/ obesity may increase brain tumor risk.

I first read about this study in MedicalNewsToday.com an article written by Yvette Brazier - http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/299478.php.

I, like many brain tumors victims, have often wondered (and maybe have been obsessed) with the question of “Why me?” Why did I get a brain tumor? What did I do (wrong)?

One possible answer seems to be identified by key subhead in Brazier’s article which screams out that “Obesity linked to 54% increased risk of meningioma development.”

My first question was “Is this the preliminary finding of result of one small sample research project? The answer is "NO" now as Brazier points out that “Behrens carried out a meta-analysis of 18 studies, looking at all the available data on body mass index (BMI) and physical activity relating to 2,982 meningioma cases and 3,057 glioma cases.”

Hmmm, I then looked at the correlation: “54%” That’s a relatively big number. A number worth remembering and paying attention too.

Want to know more? Here’s a link to the Journal of Neurology abstract: http://www.neurology.org/content/early/2015/09/16/WNL.0000000000002020

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