Yo-yo dieting, also known as weight cycling, is a repeated loss and gain of body weight due to excessive dieting, but new research shows that it can more than double the risk of kidney cancer.

Researchers from the University of California who reported their research in the American Journal of Epidemiology in June 200 7 followed 140,057 women aged between 50 and 79 for almost eight years to study the consequences of yo-yo dieting and compared women of average waist size to those with the large waistlines. The study found that ‘weight cycling’, along with a large waistline pose an even higher risk in the development of kidney cancer in older women than just obesity.

According to the study women whose weight fluctuates by more than 10 lbs or 4.5 kg on more than 10 occasions were more likely to develop kidney cancer than women whose weight remained stable. The researchers also found it was safer for women to gain weight steadily as they grew older than to lose weight and keep it that way through strict dieting. Women who did this were found to have a 60 per cent increased risk of developing the cancer.

The authors suggest that there may be a connection between yo-yo dieting, large waistlines and kidney cancer and point out earlier studies that have already linked weight cycling to increased incidence of obesity and high blood pressure, other risk factors for kidney cancer. They also suggested that frequent weight fluctuations might lead to kidney damage by stirring up metabolic or functional changes that increase cancer susceptibility.

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