Shedding those extra pounds might just save your life. According to the Associated Press (AP) every 1 in 12 new cases of cancer is due to excess weight.

Obesity is thus the leading cause of cancer accounting for 8 percent of cancers on the continent as per European researchers.

While speaking to AP, University of Manchester expert, Andrew Renehan said, "Obesity is catching up at a rate that makes it possible it could become the biggest attributable cause of cancer in women within the next decade".

Obesity accounts for 20 percent of cancer deaths in women and 14 percent cancer deaths in men, according to the National Cancer Institute. Overweight can be linked to most common cancers such as colon, uterine, postmenopausal breast, and esophageal cancer.

Colorectal cancer, breast cancer in menopausal women and uterine cancer accounted for 65 percent of all the cancers due to obesity.

The reason has not been found out yet for obesity leading to cancers but it might be because of the more hormones that chubbier people produce which help tumors grow. Big bellied people have more acid in their stomach which could cause stomach and intestinal cancers.

The way of checking whether you qualify as obese is to check if your body mass index (BMI) falls beyond 18.5-24.9. People having a BMI between this range are healthy weight individuals. Overweight people have a BMI anywhere between 25.0 and 29.9 and obese people have a BMI of 30 or more.

This can be checked out at the National Cancer Institutes' web site. The National Cancer Institute has come up with a take-away message, "Get moving! Lack of activity is the big culprit for why so many Americans are too fat".