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1 June 2006
Across The Board Association Between Obesity And Breast Cancer 
An upcoming issue of the journal CANCER reveals that the greater a woman's weight gain as an adult, the greater the risk for all histological types, tumor stages, and grades of breast cancer. Incredibly, the most extremely obese women were up to three-times more likely to have regional or distant metastases than women with less weight gain. Breast cancer risk is linked to levels of circulating estrogen, and because fat tissue increases circulating estrogen, it adds to the risk. While there has been research in the past on obesity and breast cancer risk, there was previously no data on whether that risk was specific for the type of breast cancer. To address this deficiency, Heather Spencer Feigelson, of the American Cancer Society, led researchers in investigating the relationship between weight gain and type of invasive breast cancer in more than 40,000 postmenopausal women who were not taking hormone therapy. The study findings indicate that the greater the weight gain, the greater the risk for all types, stages, and grades of breast cancer. Compared to women who gained 20 pounds or less during adulthood, women who gained over 60 pounds were almost twice as likely to have ductal type tumors and more than 1.5 times more likely to have lobular type cancers. The risk for metastatic disease increased for all women who gained weight, with the risk greater than three-fold for women who gained over 60 pounds. Dr. Feigelson said that the findings were yet another reason for women to get serious about obesity. "These data further illustrate the relationship between adult weight gain and breast cancer, and the importance of maintaining a healthy body weight throughout adulthood," she said in conclusion. Source: John Wiley & Sons
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