professional.cancerconsultants.com | Submitted by smboy5, 01.20.10
Researchers affiliated with the U.S. Radiologic Technologists Study have reported that obesity and benign thyroid conditions increase the risk of thyroid cancer. The details of this study appeared in an early online publication in the American Journal of Epidemiology on November 30, 2009.[1]
Approximately 18,000 new cases of thyroid cancer will occur in the United States each year. The most common types of thyroid cancer are papillary and follicular. One of the known risk factors for developing thyroid cancer is radiation to the neck; this risk is dose-related. A less frequent type is medullary thyroid cancer. Medullary thyroid cancer is a relatively rare malignancy, and 25% of these cases are hereditary. Scientists from deCODE genetics have discovered two genetic variations that result in a substantially increased risk of thyroid cancer in patients in the United States, Spain, and Iceland. Researchers affiliated with the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study have reported that alcohol intake may reduce the risk of thyroid cancer. Other studies have also suggested that smoking may lower the risk of developing thyroid cancer.