Obesity is a growing problem in the United States and in fact more than one-third of Americans are obese. This puts them at risk for diseases like diabetes, heart disease and several cancers, including multiple myeloma.
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With multiple myeloma, the plasma cells in bone marrow produce high levels of abnormal antibodies and crowd out white and red blood cells. Essentially the cancerous cells take over a person’s bone marrow, causing them bone pain, excessive thirst and kidney failure. Risk factors that are linked to this blood cancer include:
- Age: The risk for multiple myeloma goes up as you age.
- Gender: Men are more likely to get myeloma than women.
- Race: African-Americans are at high risk for myeloma.
- Family history: People who have a close relative with myeloma has a higher risk of getting it.
- Having MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of uncertain significance)
- Being overweight or obese
Out of all those risk factors the only one that is preventable is obesity. According to a study from the University of Texas Health Science Center, obesity increases the risk for myeloma. The lead author of the study, Dr. Edward Medina predicts that the obesity problems in the Hispanic population could increase the numbers in multiple myeloma.
Since obesity is the only preventable risk factor, researchers found that controlling obesity could potentially be effective in preventing myeloma. Their research found that there was a significant shorter survival rate in obese myeloma patients compared to others that were at a normal weight.
NEXT: Multiple Myeloma Diet