Body Weight, Diet May Be Risk Factors for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Body weight in young adulthood and diet appeared to be associated with the risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to results presented at the 10th AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, held Oct. 22-25, 2011.

“The causes of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) are poorly understood, and unfortunately, we don’t know very much about specific ways to prevent or lower the risk for this disease,” said Kimberly Bertrand, Sc.D., research fellow in the department of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.

In previous analyses of the Nurses’ Health Study at 14 years of follow-up, lead researcher Shumin Zhang, M.D., Sc.D., and colleagues reported positive associations with NHL for trans fat intake and inverse associations for vegetable intake. To expand those findings, Bertrand and colleagues evaluated the association of obesity, specific types of dietary fats and fruits and vegetables with risk for NHL.

Researchers analyzed questionnaire responses from 47,541 men followed for 22 years in the Health Professionals’ Follow-Up Study and 91,227 women followed for 28 years in the Nurses’ Health Study. Among the women, researchers confirmed 966 incident diagnoses of NHL through 2008, and among the men, they confirmed 566 cases through 2006.

“In analyses that controlled for age, race and other factors, we found that obesity in young adulthood (ages 18 to 21 years) was associated with risk for NHL later in life,” Bertrand said. “Men who were obese (body mass index [BMI] equal to or greater than 30) [in young adulthood] had a 64 percent higher risk for NHL compared with men who were lean, while obese women had a 19 percent higher risk.”

What are risk factors for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma? In many cases, people who develop NHL have no risk factors, and doctors seldom know why one person develops non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and another does not.

Certain risk factors increase the chance that a person will develop this disease although most people who have these risk factors will never develop the disease.

Risk factors

Medications that suppress your immune system: Using immunosuppressive agents (such as after an organ transplant) is a risk factor as it reduces your bodies ability to fight infection.

Weakened immune system: The risk of developing lymphoma may be increased by having a weakened immune system.

Certain infections: Certain viral and bacterial infections increase the risk of NHL. Examples are HIV, hepatitis C virus, and Epstein-Barr virus. A type of bacteria sometimes linked to NHL is the ulcer-causing H. pylori.

Note: Lymphoma is not contagious. You cannot catch lymphoma from another person.

: Although non-Hodgkin's lymphoma can occur in young people, the chance of developing this disease increases with age. Most people with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are older than 60 years of age.: People who work with herbicides or certain other chemicals may be at increased risk of this disease. Researchers are also looking at a possible link between using hair dyes before 1980 and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. None of these possible links have definitely been proven.