Abstract
Metabolic syndrome in children age 10 years and older, as defined by consensus among experts through the International Diabetes Federation, is a cluster of six risk factors for cardiovascular disease: obesity (defined by waist circumference or central obesity), elevated triglyceride concentrations, low high-density lipoprotein concentrations, elevated blood pressure, and elevated fasting glucose concentrations or type 2 diabetes. Of these risk factors, obesity in adults is the second leading cause of preventable death in the USA and is also a risk factor for cancer in adults. Obesity has been associated with increased risks of postmenopausal breast, colon, endometrial, esophageal, and kidney cancers, and it probably also increases the risk of gallbladder, ovarian, pancreatic, thyroid, and prostate cancers. In this chapter, we review the epidemiology of obesity and cancer, the effect of obesity on cancer morbidity and mortality, and the biochemical factors associated with obesity in association with increased cancer risk. We also explore the rates of obesity and its consequences in long-term survivors of childhood cancers.