Abstract

Obesity is a disease with one of the highest incidence and prevalence worldwide, mainly due to unhealthy lifestyles such as sedentary lifestyle and Western diet. A body mass index >30.0 kg/m2 is the measure used to diagnose this condition. Although the relationship of obesity with type 2 diabetes mellitus and with cardiovascular disease is widely known, its association with cancer is not so much. Obesity has been implicated in the pathogenesis of malignant neoplasms of the esophagus, pancreas, colon, rectum, endometrium, kidney and breast in postmenopausal women.

Chronic inflammation and insulin resistance are pathophysiological mechanisms that develop because of the consequence of obesity and provide an optimal environment for the acquisition of oncogenic mutations and tumor growth. Obesity produces changes in stem cells of the adipose tissue that result in tissue hypoxia and angiogenesis, thus facilitating a development of metástasis with greater ease and inadequate response to treatment as well.

Key words: Obesity; neoplasia; cancer