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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Each 2-2.5 st weight increase linked to cancer risk increase. AIBU to think those of us who can have a duty to lose weight?

147 replies

LapsedTwentysomething · 14/08/2014 09:11

And by that, I mean most of us. I have PCOS am 2.5st above the highest point of my healthy weight range. PCOS makes weight gain spectacularly easy and loss more difficult but I'm also a comfort eater and can address this. I just choose to make excuses.

Link here. This particularly caught my attention: 'each 13-16kg (2-2.5 stone) of extra weight an average adult gained was linked firmly and linearly to a greater risk of six cancers'. My mum was diagnosed with one of the cancers listed at an advanced stage last year. She has never been overweight. What the fuck am I doing to myself / my DCs / DP / the NHS?

AIBU to think this is actually quite stark, and it's imperative that those if us who need to and can lose weight should just Get On With It? I know this stuff isn't new but those links are clearee than ever.

OP posts:
firesidechat · 14/08/2014 10:09

That's great advice for you and your family Lapsed. Was your mum's cancer related to lifestyle, because my husbands wasn't.

If you tell people that they have a "duty" to do something, then in some cases, you are going to get a reaction.

firesidechat · 14/08/2014 10:13

And, for what it's worth, I have a very highly developed sense of duty. The idea that my weight is also something to be dutiful about is exhausting.

Original poster
LapsedTwentysomething · 14/08/2014 10:15

No, it wasn't as I've already explained. Point taken. I hate the word fight related to cancer. Same issue I think.

OP posts:
MajesticWhine · 14/08/2014 10:18

I guess I see your point OP. But the problem is you can have a miserable life dieting, not drinking, not having a bacon sarnie and still get cancer.
Cancer research uk says that smoking, diet, alcohol and obesity are behind approximately one third of all cancers diagnosed in the UK each year. Therefore two thirds of all cancer cases have other causes.

EarthWindFire · 14/08/2014 10:18

Having a baby also contributes to the NHS.

If you go down that route you could say that about most things!

BookABooSue · 14/08/2014 10:18

I'm not sure that thinking of it in terms of a 'duty' makes it more achievable or less so because some people like to rebel against duty/authority, etc.

If this study has motivated you to think or act differently then that's great. Triggers for over-eating are varied hence triggers for changing eating habits are varied too.

I think anything that encourages people to live a healthier lifestyle is to be applauded. As long as you're not considering it some sort of guarantee against future illness because there is no magic wand to protect us.

BarbarianMum · 14/08/2014 10:18

I don't think I'd use the word 'duty'. I do think this should be talked about because the obesity rate is soaring and the full affects of this are only now being fully understood. Its no different that emphasising why smoking is really bad for you.

It has certainly given me added incentive to loose weight ( and God Knows I need those because it is proving really difficult)

BarbarianMum · 14/08/2014 10:20

majestic that's true but we'd be crazy not to tackle the causes we do know about.

RonaldMcDonald · 14/08/2014 10:21

As 1 in 3 of us will get cancer ( and growing ) the problem is that most of us will need to accept that cancer is a likelihood for ourselves or part of our family.
Linking it to some factors makes us feel as though we are acting positively to keep the vampire from the door but in truth he still finds a way in.

I think stress and weight play a huge part and both are of course linked to each other anyway.
You owe it to yourself to live a good life while you have one

Thebodyloveschocolateandwine · 14/08/2014 10:23

Bollocks to that.

My lovely slim non drink, non smoke mil was oberwhmed by cancer at 62.

My hugely overweight heavy smoking/drinking fil had a heart attack at 72.

I was with them both when they died. One suffered terribly and one did not.

My dds teacher was killed right in front of her on a school trip.

Enjoy the time you have here and live your life how you want. We are all going to die anyway just some of us have an idea when while most of us don't.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 14/08/2014 10:23

I know where you are coming from OP. My mum died of cancer at a young age and was reasonably healthy up until then. I was fat until recently and I really did question myself about it. OK may be being obese won't massively increase my risk of cancer but being thinner might reduce it. Being thinner has improved my quality of life as well.

There are some risk factors that none of us can alter e.g. the single biggest risk for BC for most people is age and none of us can stop the clock.

I don't see it as tell people how to live but more saying to people we don't have all the answers but in some cases being a healthy weight can reduce your risk.

firesidechat · 14/08/2014 11:00

If you look at past cancer scare mongering articles you'll find that almost anything you do or eat allegedly increases your risk of cancer even things that were previously suggested to reduce the risk...

I was watching a program the other day about processed meat and cancer. One expert said that no amount of bacon etc was ok. The other that up to 3 rashers a day or 70g was safe. Which one am I supposed to believe?

ClockWatchingLady · 14/08/2014 11:30

Interesting question, OP (try to ignore the "it's been done before" brigade. How bizarre to think things can't continue to be discussed).

I think I agree with Thebodyloveschocolateandwine.

I'd guess that the majority of people who develop a disease could probably point to some "modifiable risk factor" they could have/wish they had modified. But this way madness lies.

ClockWatchingLady · 14/08/2014 11:35

(e.g., a friend of mine who developed ulcerative colitis had increased his risk of it by not smoking. Bummer.)

firesidechat · 14/08/2014 11:53

My husband had none of the risk factors for his sort of cancer and he was probably just genetically programmed to get it. Bad luck indeed. But what if he had been a smoker? He would have spent a lot of valuable time blaming himself and getting even more depressed. Not very helpful.

TalcumPowder · 14/08/2014 12:02

I don't disagree, OP. I've been overweight for a while, and, as an older mother to a toddler, I do feel a duty to modify anything I can that will allow me to be around and healthy for as much of his life as I can. I have very good health, eat well, don't smoke and am active, but the excess weight is the one obvious risk factor I can alter. Obviously, it doesn't guarantee health and longevity, but it's a risk I can minimise through my own efforts. I've lost two stone and plan to keep going till I'm a healthy BMI.

IrianofWay · 14/08/2014 12:05

I think the word duty is too loaded. Everyone has a chance to take care of the body they have been given to the best of their ability and increase the chances of living a longer and healtier life - you can't force anyone to take that chance. Their loss IMO but it's up to them.

But there are no guarantees. DH's neice's husband has just been diagnosed with stomach cancer. Yesterday they found out it was inoperable. He is 31, fit, slim, active, eats well, moderate drinker, non-smoker. Where's the fucking justice? He couldn't have lived more sensible and healtily than he did.

WorraLiberty · 14/08/2014 12:05

Cancer aside, I think we all have a duty to our children to set a healthy example if we can.

'Do as I say and not as I do', really doesn't cut it with kids.

If you're puffing on 20 fags a day, you can't be surprised if they end up doing the same. If you're overeating a shit load of food and taking little to no exercise, you can't be surprised if they end up doing the same.

Smoking is far less normalised than it was when I was a kid. For example, taking a message to the school staff room used to mean being hit with a wall of fag smoke when the door opened. Even a trip on a bus/train meant people sitting there, idly puffing away.

However, obesity is far more normalised now than it was when I was a kid, so that's the example being shown, often from their parents/teachers/doctors/nurses etc.

Whether it increases the risk of cancers or not, obesity can cause a shit load of other nasty things, just like smoking can and I'm sure none of us want that for our kids.

Thebodyloveschocolateandwine · 14/08/2014 13:37

I dislike the blame culture of disease now as much as the fighting cancer crap.

My mil couldn't fight it. It overwhelmed her. Not everyone can be brave or complete a bucket list.

I dislike the judgyness.

bellarations · 14/08/2014 13:53

Well you've made my day ....... Feel like shit!
So because I'm 2.5 stone overweight, cancer would in part, be my own doing?? Nothing to do with genetics or terrible terrible bad luck.
A know a couple who's dd has cancer , she is 2.

bellarations · 14/08/2014 13:54

2 years old .....

Thebodyloveschocolateandwine · 14/08/2014 13:57

It's genetics and luck in my opinion.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 14/08/2014 14:03

There is rarely one single cause for any cancer. Nobody is saying that if you lose weight you won't get cancer; all I saw this as saying is that being overweight appears to be one of the identifiable risk factors for certain types of cancer. Smoking is one of the identified risks linked to lung cancer. That doesn't mean that all smokers will get lung cancer or that non-smokers won't. It simply means that, on average, smokers a more likely to get lung cancer.

bauhausfan · 14/08/2014 14:04

I agree with the notion of 'blame disease' - I think we want to convince ourselves that people did something to deserve cancer because then we can believe that we WON'T get it it, so long as we 'follow the rules'.

My super-healthy, always gardening, walking everywhere, lived on a diet of home-grown veggies and fruit, slim Granny died horribly of a brain tumour aged 60.

My always between size 18 and 24, never did any exercise, could eat a box of chocolates at one go, type 2 diabetic Granny died slowly and painlessly aged 84.

My friend who was a tee-total, veggie (but who smoked and was always trying to give it up) died aged 43 in a road accident.

Just live well and happily - it's all any of us can do. We'll all die in the end.

Jollyphonics · 14/08/2014 14:07

I don't understand why people say there's a blame culture surrounding cancer. In my experience, people with cancer are treated exactly the same in the health service, whether their behaviour contributed to the cancer or not.

As a GP I've watched many patients suffer with various nasty diseases, many of them caused by behaviours I'd been advising them to modify for years. At no point have I ever treated them differently or been less caring and sympathetic to them.

I don't think research like this is designed to blame people. Many illness are basically caused by bad luck and genetics, things over which we have no control. So, rather than crossing our fingers and hoping we're one of the lucky ones, scientists endeavour to ascertain other possible contributing factors, things that we do have the power to modify.

I think we should welcome all this information. Individuals can decide what, if anything, to do with the research findings, but ultimately knowledge is power and we can all decide how far we want to go to reduce our risks.

Everyone knows that terrible things happen to wonderful and apparently healthy people every day, but that doesn't mean we should take offence at research data suggesting that some factors increase risk.