Estrogen is the link between obesity and breast cancer

By April Clarkson, | Health | 0 Comments

It is already well known that women who are obese are more likely to get breast cancer. What’s not been clear is why this should be. Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center report on a study of women from all over the world who donated blood for the analysis of estrogen levels.

This showed that women who were overweight also had higher levels of estrogen. We already know that estrogen is linked to breast cancer, so this study seems to suggest that estrogen is the ‘missing link’. There are factors involved in breast cancer that a woman cannot control - family history, age of first menstruation and menopause. The number of pregnancies and the woman’s age when she gives birth are important too - and few women plan their families with an eye to their risk of breast cancer. The role of diet in breast cancer remains unclear. But one factor that women can control - hard though it might be - is their weight. In doing so, they reduce their risk not just of diabetes and heart disease, but also of breast cancer.