Wearing a body-hugging costume accompanied by a tight belt may be fashionable. However, the trend can also contribute to the onset of many deadly diseases.
A new study reveals that people who wear tight belts are at a greater risk of developing throat cancer than others. The risk is comparatively high for persons with an unhealthy weight.
The findings are based on the experiments conducted by a team of Scottish researchers on 24 healthy participants. It was found that twelve of the participants had increased waist circumference and the rest had normal weight. All of them were completely free from any history of acid reflux.
During the study, the participants underwent various tests, including swallowing a specially designed probe. They were tested before and after eating a meal, both while wearing and without wearing a belt. The probe recorded various measurements and factors during the experiments, Daily Record reported.
Investigators from Glasgow and Strathclyde universities and Southern General Hospital revealed that the tight belt placed a pressure on the valve between the stomach and the gullet, further making the stomach acid to pass upward into the gullet. They said that the occurrence, when continued for a long time, increases the risk of oesophageal cancer.
"Wearing a tight belt, especially if you are overweight, puts strain on the valve between the stomach and the gullet. This causes stomach acid to leak upwards into the gullet. Unlike the stomach, which is designed to withstand this, the gullet is damaged by the acid. This causes heartburn and, in the longer term, possibly oesophageal cancer," lead researcher Professor Kenneth McColl, of Glasgow University's institute of cardiovascular and medical sciences, told Daily Record. "This is one of the most rapidly increasing forms of cancer."
The study has been published in BMJ's Gut.
The habit of wearing tight belts was always a constant source of concern. According to health experts, tight belts can harm the digestive system, increase the risk of heartburn, acid reflux, stomach aches and bowel discomfort.
"Wearing a tight belt especially in case of obese people further raises the intra abdominal pressure thereby aggravating gastro-esophageal reflux and reducing gastric emptying and forward propulsion of food in bowel. This can cause vomiting; bloating, belching and gas bloat symptoms and worsen heart burn," Dr (Col.) M Bhagat, Senior Consultant, Gastroenterology, Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute, Delhi, told Healthy Dunia.com.
Dr B P Singh, Senior Consultant, Gastroenterology & Internal Medicine, Rockland Hospital, Delhi told the website that tight belts can cause decreased appetite, affect the normal blood supply to abdominal organs and can cause intestinal obstruction in patients suffering from internal hernia.
