These are the conclusions of a study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, which estimated the extent to which body mass index (BMI) is associated with cancer incidence in Brazil. The main conclusions are:

• Overweight and obesity is associated with higher risk for 14 tumour types in Brazil
• Cases of related cancers are expected to double to about 30,000 by 2025
• At Higher risk are women and states with better access to ultra-processed foods.

Cancers linked to overweight and obesity are more frequent in Brazil’s richer and more developed states because they are at the forefront of a ‘nutritional transition’, the trend of adopting eating habits characteristic of Westernized countries.

The more detailed report by Rodrigo de Oliveira Andrade is available on SciDevNet.