Although marked differences in anthropometric characteristics and malignant lymphoma (ML) incidence suggest that the association between obesity and ML risk in Asian and non-Asian populations may differ, few studies have investigated this association in Asian populations. Here, we conducted a sex-and age-matched case-control study in a Japanese population using 782 cases and 3,910 noncancer controls in the hospital-based Epidemiological Research Program at Aichi Cancer Center Hospital. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for anthropometric characteristics were estimated using a conditional logistic regression model that incorporated smoking and alcohol intake. Recent body weight and body mass index (BMI) showed marginally significant association with ML risk (ORs [95% CIs] per 5-unit increase in recent weight and BMI; 1.04 [0.99-1.09] and 1.11 [0.98-1.27], respectively). On the other hand, weight and BMI in early adulthood exhibited a strong association with ML risk (ORs [95% CIs] per 5-unit increase in early adulthood weight and BMI; 1.11 [1.05-1.18] and 1.33 [1.13-1.55], respectively). Further, in women, a BMI of 25.0-29.9 kg/m 2 , defined as obesity in Asian populations, during early adulthood was significantly associated with ML risk compared to the normal range of 18.5-22.9 kg/m 2 . By histological ML subtype, the point estimates of ORs for obesity relative to normal weight in early adulthood were over unity for nonHodgkin lymphoma (NHL) as a whole and significant for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). In conclusion, our study in Japanese subjects suggested that early adulthood obesity is associated with the risk of NHL, particularly DLBCL.Although the association between obesity and the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) has been investigated in a number of case-control and cohort studies, results have been inconsistent. 1-11 Moreover, most of these studies were conducted in non-Asian populations. Recently, the International Lymphoma Epidemiology Consortium (InterLymph) reported a large pooled analysis of 18 case-control studies conducted at various centers, including ours, to evaluate the impact of recent obesity on NHL risk, with the results suggesting no significant association between NHL and obesity. 1 In contrast, Maskarinec et al. 2 reported that body weight and body mass index (BMI) at age 21 were stronger predictors of NHL risk than baseline anthropometric characteristics, suggesting that weight during early adulthood may be a better indicator of NHL risk than weight at an older age. Further, increase in various cytokines among obese people has been proposed as a mechanism underlying the development of malignant lymphoma (ML); bioavailable insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and insulin play a role in promoting cellular proliferation and inhibiting apoptosis, 12-14 whereas leptin is considered to be involved in lymphomagenesis via inflammatory pathways. [15][16][17][18][19] Because Asian populations generally have a low BMI but higher