Thinner middle-aged men are more likely to get cancer, according to a study by the National Cancer Center in Tokyo.
The incidence rate for such men is 14 percent to 29 percent higher than that for peers who are overweight or of standard weight, according to the study released Wednesday.
The study tracked 88,927 Japanese men and women aged in their 40s to 60s over a 10-year period to probe a possible association between a person's body mass index and risk of cancer incidence and mortality.
The BMI, a measurement of the relative percentages of fat and muscle mass, is attained by dividing weight in kilograms by height in meters squared. The standard BMI is 22. People with a BMI of 25 or above are considered to be obese.
According to the study, the incidence rate of cancer in men with a BMI of 21 to 29.9 was more or less uniform, but the rate jumped among those with a BMI below 21 -- considered to constitute thinness.