Being overweight increases the risk of developing some of the most common cancers.
A study of more than five million UK adults carried out by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine concluded that rising BMI was "clearly linked" with a higher risk of leukaemia and cancers of the uterus, gallbladder, kidney, cervix, and thyroid.
Higher BMI was also found to increase the overall risk of liver, colon, ovarian and breast cancers, but the effects on these varied by other factors such as sex and menopausal status.
Published in The Lancet in August, the study predicted that increasing average BMI in the UK could lead to more than 3,500 extra cancers every year.
"It is well recognised that [higher BMI] is likely to cause more diabetes and cardiovascular disease," said lead author Krishnan Bhaskaran of LSHTM. "Our results show that if these trends continue, we can also expect to see substantially more cancers as a result."
