Increased blood glucose and insulin, body size, and incident colorectal cancer. Furthermore, elevated levels of visceral adipose tissue have been associated with hyperinsulinemia, and insulin is a growth factor in the colon. We assessed whether waist circumference, a surrogate measure of visceral adipose tissue, and metabolic parameters associated with visceral adipose tissue were related to colorectal cancer. In the Cardiovascular Health Study cohort, we examined the relationship of baseline measurements of body size, glucose, insulin, and lipoproteins to incident colorectal cancer.
All P values are two-sided.
These data provide, to our knowledge, the first direct evidence of an association between elevated visceral adipose tissue level, its associated metabolic effects, and colorectal cancer.