Teenagers who are overweight are twice as likely to go on to develop cancer of the oesophagus compared to normal-weight teens, a new study has found.

The oesophagus is the hollow tube that brings food and liquids from the throat to the stomach. Oesophageal cancer is one of the most deadly forms of cancer, with a mortality rate of over 90%. Around 450 people are diagnosed with the disease in Ireland every year.

Scientists from Israel looked at the body mass index (BMI) of one million male teens who underwent a general health examination between 1967 and 2005, when they were aged around 17. They then used a national cancer registry to identify who went on to develop cancer.

Participants were monitored for an average of 18 years, although some were monitored for almost 40 years.

The scientists found that weight appeared to have a major impact on the risk of developing this type of cancer later on.

Teenagers who were overweight were at least twice as likely to later develop cancer of the oesophagus.

The study also found that teenagers of low socioeconomic status were at least twice as likely to develop gastric (stomach) cancer, while those with low levels of education had almost twice the risk.

"Adolescents who are overweight and obese are prone to oesophageal cancer, probably due to reflux that they have throughout their life. Also, a lower socioeconomic position as a child has a lot of impact upon incidence of gastric cancer as an adult.

"We look at obesity as dangerous from cardiovascular aspects at ages 40 and over, but here we can see that it has effects much earlier," the scientists said.

The team was unable to state whether losing weight later in life or gaining a higher socioeconomic status reduced these risks.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, CANCER.