Study Shows Weight Gain Tied to Breast Cancer
Posted on: Thursday, 26 February 2004, 06:00 CST
By DANIEL YEE
ATLANTA (AP) -- The amount of weight a woman gains after age 18 is a strong signal as to whether she will get breast cancer later in life, according to new research released Wednesday by the American Cancer Society.
In one of the largest studies of weight and breast cancer to date, researchers said older women who gained 20 to 30 pounds after high school graduation were 40 percent more likely to get breast cancer than women who kept the weight off.
The risk doubled if a woman gained more than 70 pounds, said Heather Spencer Feigelson, senior epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society.
"Breast cancer is strongly dependent on body weight," Feigelson said. "Even modest amounts of weight gain lead to a significantly increased risk of breast cancer."
Weight gain and body mass have long been known to be risk factors for breast cancer.
The cancer society estimates weight contributes to between one-third and one-half of all breast cancer deaths among older women.
Fat tissue makes estrogen, and estrogen can help breast cancer grow. Weight gain also is the second leading cause of all cancers, according to research the Atlanta-based society published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine.
But the cancer society researchers wanted to examine more specifically the link between weight gain amounts and breast cancer, and this was the first in such a large group.
"The more fat you have - fat cells are capable of synthesizing estrogen - the heavier you are, the higher your estrogen levels," said Dr. Paul Tartter, associate professor of surgery at Columbia University, who was not a researcher in the study. "There's no question that estrogen is the common denominator of most of our risk factors for breast cancer."
The cancer society study included 1,934 breast cancer cases among 62,756 women involved in a separate long-term cancer prevention study.
Post-menopausal women ages 50 to 74 were asked their weight when the study began in 1992 and their weight when they were 18 years old. Surveys were sent to the women in 1997, 1999 and 2001 to inquire about any new cancers.
Women taking estrogen hormones were not included in the study.
Lean post-menopausal women not taking hormone replacement therapy produce very little estrogen and had the lowest cancer risk in the study, Feigelson said.
-----
On the Net:
More science, space, and technology from RedNova
Copyright © 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Related Articles
- New Study: Antidepressants Commonly Prescribed with Tamoxifen Put Women at Much Higher Risk for Recurrent Breast Cancer
- Revealing Breast Cancer in Hispanic Women
- New Screening Guidelines for Women at High Risk for Breast Cancer, From Harvard Women's Health Watch
- St. Louis Cancer & Breast Institute Physician Says Hormone Replacement Therapy Does Indeed Create Breast Cancer Risk
- Quest Diagnostics Launches Test to Help Oncologists Predict Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence in Women With Estrogen Receptor (ER)-Positive, Lymph Node- Negative Cancers
- BioSante Pharmaceuticals Comments on New Data From Women's Health Initiative Study Showing No Increased Risk of Breast Cancer With Estrogen-Alone Therapy
- Breast Implants Again Linked to Suicide Risk
- Gene Mutations Linked to Breast Cancer in Black Women
- A New Insight into Breast Cancer: Breast Density is Directly Related to Breast Cancer
- Smoking Reduces Breast Tenderness During Oral Estrogen-Progestogen Therapy
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds