Obesity is a growing threat to global health. More than 2 billion adults and 340 million children are now overweight (where body mass index is 25 kg/m² or more) or obese (where body mass index is 30kg/m2 or more). Since 1980, the prevalence of obesity has doubled in over 70 countries. Obesity is a major risk factor for developing cancer and for cancer death. In part, this may be related to the inter-relationship between obesity and metabolic syndrome. There is a strong association with some cancer types including endometrial, esophageal, renal, liver, pancreas, myeloma, gastric, colon and rectum, gall bladder, ovary, breast and thyroid cancers. For endometrial and breast cancer, higher circulating estrogen levels related to adipose tissue synthesis are also thought to be contributory.
Assessment of body composition (sarcopenic obesity and sarcopenia) may help in the management of cancer patients by identifying at-risk patients who might benefit from pre-habilitation or require some modifications to therapeutic approaches such as surgery or chemotherapy. Imaging techniques that are used in clinical practice include dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, CT and MRI. Whole body MRI provides a comprehensive approach to assessing total body fat volume; subcutaneous and visceral fat volume; and lean body muscle volume; whole body workflow has been facilitated more recently with deep learning techniques.

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