Hello and thank you for your post,

Many risk factors can increase a person's risk of cancer, age being the main risk, the older we get the higher the risk. However, through research, we know of other factors such as smoking, drinking alcohol, and being overweight can increase risk.

If a person is overweight or does smoke it does not mean that they will get cancer, but they may be at an increased risk. Being overweight is one of the biggest risks of endometrial cancer, and losing weight is one of the most preventable ways to reduce this risk.

Research has shown that being overweight or obese causes a third of endometrial cancers.

The reason for this is that women who are overweight have higher levels of oestrogen compared with those who are not. Fatty tissues produce more oestrogen. The more body fat there is, the more oestrogen there is. This causes more of the womb lining to build up. When more lining cells are produced, there is a greater chance of one of them becoming cancerous.

Some people have little or no risk factors and still sadly may develop cancer. There are no guarantees when it comes to cancer, but making healthy changes can reduce a person's risk.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to get back to us with further questions,

Jemma