Over the next decade, obesity may supercede smoking and hormone replacement therapies to become the leading factor that contributes to cancer among women -- maybe trailing only smoking -- in Europe, according to a report presented at a recent joint meeting of health organizations in Berlin.

Based on a statistical model that estimated the number of cancer diagnoses attributed to obesity in 30 European nations, 70,000 cases out of some 2 million could be blamed on obesity in 2002. Six years later, the estimated number of cancer cases blamed on obesity or being overweight exploded by a horrific 77 percent to at least 124,000.

With obesity stats climbing even higher in America, may cancer become a more prevalent outcome? Although some studies argue obesity may be responsible for as many as 20 percent of cancer cases domestically, only 41,000 new cases were cited in a 2004 National Cancer Institute FactSheet for 2002. That said, more cancer deaths, in which obesity or being overweight was a factor, were reported among women (20 percent) than men (14 percent).

And, despite a very optimistic report issued by the American Cancer Society, the rising rates of obesity in America may threaten future declines in breast cancer diagnoses among women.

European Cancer Organisation September 24, 2009

Bloomberg.com September 24, 2009

Bloomberg.com September 30, 2009

MSNBC.com September 24, 2009