Fat and cancer: decoding mechanisms and a path to prevention

This Nature Metabolism review summarizes how excess adiposity is a major modifiable risk factor for at least 19 cancer types, detailing mechanisms involving sex hormones, hyperinsulinaemia, and chronic inflammation, and integrating omics insights with tumor-subtype associations; it also outlines priorities for future research—imaging-based adiposity measures, multi-omics integration, and data from underrepresented populations—while considering how obesity therapies (e.g., GLP-1 receptor agonists, weight loss) might transform cancer prevention at scale.