UK tops WHO gullet cancer table and obesity may be factor
The UK has the highest rate in the world of one of the two main cancers of the food pipe or gullet, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.
Men are about four times as likely as women to develop adenocarcinoma (AC), a type of oesophageal cancer, it says.
Obesity could be a factor in the development of the disease, partly because of excess stomach acid.
Obesity campaigners said UK gullet cancer figures were "a tragedy".
The UK had the highest rate of AC gullet cancer in the world for both men and women, according to figures from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the WHO.
It was followed by the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland and New Zealand in terms of AC cancer rates.
The latest figures, from 2012, show the UK had a rate of 7.2 new cases per 100,000 for men, and 2.5 per 100,000 for women.