BEING overweight or obese accounts for about 6,000 women's cancers each year in the UK, new research based at Oxford University has shown.
Two thirds are cases of womb or breast cancer in middle aged and older women.
The findings from the Million Women Study, funded by Cancer Research UK, looked at the factors behind about 45,000 cases of cancer occurring in more than a million women over seven years.
Chief researcher Dr Gillian Reeves, from Oxford University, said: "We estimate that being overweight or obese accounts for around 6,000 out of a total 120,000 new cases of cancer each year among middle-aged and older women in the UK.
"Our research also shows that being overweight has a much bigger impact on the risk of some cancers than others.
"Two thirds of the additional 6,000 cancers each year due to excess weight or obesity would be cancers of the womb or breast.
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