Study Links Body Fats To Breast Cancer

Older women with excess body fat, even if they have what’s considered a normal body-mass index (BMI), could be at greater risk for breast cancer. Findings of a new study suggesting this were published in the medical journal ‘JAMA Oncology’. According to the authors of the study, having excess body fat, even when one has a normal BMI, is associated with an increased risk for breast cancer.

A ‘normal’ BMI is considered to be between 18.5 and 24.9, according to the study. One of the author’s study and director of cancer prevention at the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, Dr. Andrew Dannenberg, said, “We do find that excess body fat in those who are post-menopausal with a normal BMI is associated with about a doubling in the risk of estrogendependent breast cancer.”

A cancer is called estrogen- receptor-positive (or ER+) if it has receptors for estrogen. This suggests that the cancer cells, like normal breast cells, may receive signals from estrogen that could promote their growth. The cancer is progesteronereceptor- positive (PR+) if it has progesterone receptors. Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, and is responsible for an estimated 9.6 million deaths in 2018. Globally, about one in sixdeaths is due to cancer.

Approximately 70 per cent of deaths from cancer occur in low- and middle-income countries. According World Health Organisation (WHO), over 100,000 Nigerians are diagnosed with cancer annually, and about 80,000 die from the disease, averaging 240 Nigerians every day or 10 Nigerians every hour. The research team found that a five-kilogram (11-pound) increase in wholebody fat mass was associated with a 35 per cent increased risk of this kind of breast cancer.

A five-kilogram increase in fat mass of the trunk was associated with a 56 per cent increase in risk. Trunk fat is “defined by the fat contained in the torso apart from head and limbs,” according to the study. The study also found that for invasive breast cancer, which has spread into the surrounding breast tissue, a five-kilogram increase in whole-body fat mass was related to a 28 per cent risk increase. The same increase in trunk fat was tied to a 46 per cent increase in the risk of invasive breast cancer.

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