Increased Weight can be a Cause for Breast Cancer
Aug 31, 2009
The official journal of the International Union Against Cancer published a new study on how postmenopausal women are susceptible to Breast Cancer because of increased weight, which need not necessarily be abdominal fat. This study was conducted in Europe and published in the online edition of the International Journal of Cancer.
Factors analyzed for risk of breast cancer included fat being a significant contributor to it, though the studies on fat distribution are quite uncertain.
Earlier studies conducted for examining the relationship between body size and breast cancer revealed that taller women were at risk irrespective of weather or not they have reached the menopause stage. The study also suggested that obesity contributed to increased breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women and not in premenopausal women. This study however did not present the result on abdominal fat unambiguously.
Results revealed that body size mattered most in contributing to breast cancer in women at their postmenopausal stage rather than premenopausal. Height is also linked to breast cancer in both the groups, but predominantly in postmenopausal women.
No strong reasons could be attributed to understanding this phenomenon. However, some explanation is found in analyzing factors such as birth weight, diet, infection, energy balance, and insulin-related that influence bone growth as well as breast cancer.
Considering the fat distribution, hip circumference was a strong indicator of breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women who were not using HRT. But waist circumference controlled for overall body fat (BMI) did not show any indication of breast cancer risk in either post or premenopausal women.
The authors final conclusion on this is "Overweight is one of the few modifiable breast cancer risk factors and thus an important measure for breast cancer prevention and prognosis."
Posted by admin | Tags: Weight Facts
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