Fight the Fight Against Cancer

• Weight, diet and exercise affects chance of postmenopausal breast cancer • Blood glucose, triglycerides, blood pressure levels significantly increased risk This study suggests that having the metabolic syndrome itself or some of its components may increase a woman’s risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. However, much more work is needed to understand the role of these metabolic factors and their interplay with better established breast cancer risk factors, such as reproductive and hormonal factors women who had the metabolic syndrome during the three to five years prior to breast cancer diagnosis had roughly a doubling of risk We know a great deal about breast cancer, but we can’t identify who is likely to get it. The effect of different variables associated with increased glucose and insulin levels needs to be evaluated further in larger studies We need to deepen our understanding of these different interrelated behaviors and physiological factors to see how they affect breast cancer. We have assumed that the relationship between weight and breast cancer risk is due to increased circulating estrogens among postmenopausal women who are overweight or obese An alternative explanation is explored here: that some other aspect of the metabolic syndrome might be involved, such as growth-stimulating effects of insulin, or insulin-like growth factors. Though estrogens are produced in adipose tissues, just how these are metabolized in various subgroups of women needs better study In addition, the hyper-inflammatory state of obesity and the metabolic syndrome need to be better described relative to cancer risk.
Philadelphia, PA (Vocus/PRWEB ) July 1, 2009 — Physiological changes associated with the metabolic syndrome may play a role in the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer, according to study results published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Author: Tara Yates