Washington: For women, stay fit and maintain a healthy weight, as a study finds a higher waist-to-hip ratios increases the risk of ovarian cancer risk by more than a fifth.
According to researchers at the World Cancer Research Fund discovered that even a slight increase in ratio of 0.1 can heighten the danger of uterine cancer by 21 percent.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal, also found connections between bowel and pancreatic cancer.
"The results demonstrate how important it is for women to make sure they maintain a healthy weight in order to reduce their cancer risk," said co-author Konstantinos Tsilidis from Imperial College London.
"More evidence on the associations between body fat and different cancer types could allow for individuals to be targeted for personalised cancer prevention interventions, such as weight loss programmes," Tsilidis added.
The women calculate their waist-to-hip ratio by dividing waist size by their hip measurement.
The results indicated that having a ratio greater than 0.85 is an indicator of obesity, while the figure is 0.90 for men, reports the Mail Online.
There were around 7,400 new cases of ovarian cancer in the UK in 2014, that's 20 cases diagnosed every day and 53 percent of ovarian cancer cases in each year are diagnosed in females aged 65 and over.
"We know that extra weight around the waist increases the risk of a range of health conditions, such as diabetes, but this important study is helping us shine a light on how body fat around the waist could affect cancer risk," said Dr Panagiota Mitrou, director of research funding at the WCRF.
"It is incredibly important that people are aware of the dangers of excess body fat, particularly around their waist," Mitrou added.
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