From ASCO, a Hint That Obesity Treatment Prevents Cancer
The annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology is not where we typically get insights on obesity. But from this year’s meeting, another hint emerges that treating obesity treatment may prevent some of the cancer that arises from obesity. This hint comes from a large and seemingly careful study of 170,030 persons with diabetes and obesity. Lucas Mavromatis and colleagues used health systems records to follow these patients for ten years, from 2013 to 2023.
Mavromatis explains the importance of their findings:
“Although obesity is now recognized as an increasingly important cause of cancer in the United States and worldwide, no medications have been proven to lower the cancer risk associated with obesity. Our study begins to fill the gap by evaluating GLP-1 receptor agonists, a relatively new but widely prescribed medication that treats diabetes, obesity, and related conditions. Our results suggest they may modestly cut the chance of developing certain cancers—especially cancers of the colon and rectum—and reduce rates of death due to all causes. These data are reassuring, but more studies are required to prove causation.”
A Modest Effect
A number of things about this study are important to bear in mind. First of all, it documents a modest reduction in risk. The risk of all obesity-related cancers in this study was seven percent lower in the group receiving a GLP-1 agonist compared to the matched group who received a DPP-4 agent instead for diabetes. The risk of all-cause mortality was eight percent lower. But when breaking down these results by sex, they were only significant in women, not in men.
Second, because this data goes back to 2013, many or most of the patients studied were receiving older GLP-1 agonists, which have less of an effect on obesity than the newer agents – semaglutide and tirzepatide.
Finally and perhaps most importantly, we must remember that this is an observational study. Thus it cannot prove that GLP-1 agonists indeed prevent cancer related to obesity. It only suggests this is a very real possibility.
Treatment and Prevention Intersect
For years, a false dichotomy has dominated the thinking about dealing with obesity. It held that we had to choose between treatment and prevention. But data like these are making it increasingly clear that obesity treatment may become a critical strategy for preventing cancer and other chronic diseases.
As more and more evidence emerges to support this thought, it will become impossible for the nihilists to ignore.
Click here and here for more on this research. For further perspective on obesity and cancer, click here.
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May 26, 2025
