*Note – this is an early press release from the European Congress on Obesity in Malaga, Spain, 11-14 May. Please credit the congress when using this research.*

New research to be presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2025, Malaga, Spain, 11-14 May) and published in The Journal of Internal Medicine shows that, in survivors of breast cancer, having an unhealthy metabolic profile or so called ‘metabolic syndrome’ increases the risk of breast cancer recurrence by 69%, and subsequent breast cancer mortality by 83%. The study is by Dr Sixten Harborg, Department of Oncology, Aarhus University/Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark. and Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, MA, USA, and colleagues.