Authors

Ballard-Barbash & Swanson (1996)²⁴

Conclusions

*Reviewed over 75 studies hypothesizing various relationships between body weight & endometrial and/or breast cancer, finding inconsistent results.
*No study showed increased risk of endometrial cancer for women with BMIs <28.
*Negative relationships between increasing BMI and pre-menopausal breast cancer were found.
*Many studies demonstrated a weak positive association between BMI & postmenopausal breast cancer, but only 9-21% of the disease risk was explained by weight.

Concern

The literature reviewed does not support that high BMI is a major risk factor for the development of endometrial or breast cancer.

Authors

Shike (1996)²⁵

Conclusions

*Literature review found insufficient research evidence to support hypotheses associating high BMI with increased risk for colon cancer.
*Research has implicated increased dietary fat intake & sedentary lifestyle as probable independent factors in the development of colon cancer.

Concern

When variables often occur together (i.e. high fat diet, sedentary lifestyle, & obesity) it is tempting to assume that causal relationships are present. Such assumptions are often erroneous.