Medicine is taking vital steps towards identifying the causes of cancers - and perhaps even a cure. Recently, scientists have found a connection between genetic and hereditary obesity and developing colon cancer.

The latest discovery links a gene, which controls the fat cells’ secretion of a hormone called adiponectin to the diagnosis of colon cancer. According to the doctors who conducted the study, a high secretion of said hormone may lower the risk of colon cancer, even if people have such cases in their family history. Half of the volunteers who participated in the study had this variation of the aforementioned gene. The study was conducted on a panel of two groups of 750 volunteers each, adding up to 1,500 people.

The researchers are still uncertain about the physiological mechanism and process behind the secretion control, but they have an understanding as to why a high percentage of the hormone lowers the chances of developing this type of cancer - the study revealed that the adiponectin can rush the metabolism and lessens blood vessel inflammation. Besides colon cancer, high secretion of the hormone also lowers women’s chances of developing breast cancer.

Low hormone secretion has been associated with obesity, causing patients who suffer from it to be predisposed to cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Colon cancer is very likely to be diagnosed in people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, originated in Europe. New York citizens of the same descent (a part of the first study group) who had a high secretion of the adiponectin were said to have a 28% less chance of developing colon cancer. The second study group consisted of Chicago-based citizens with different descents. In their case, those who had the gene variation were 52% less likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer.

Although this connection does not yet shed enough light on the causes of cancer, it still plays a vital part in the research, all the while raising another alarm for the dangers of obesity