Health Diaries > The Breast Cancer Blog
October 8, 2007
Mother's Hip Size May Affect Daughter's Breast Cancer Risk
According to a new study of women in Finland published in the American Journal of Human Biology, the size and ratio of a woman's hips may influence whether or not her daughters get breast cancer.
A woman's vulnerability to breast cancer, the study found, was greater if her mother's "intercristal diameter" -- the widest distance between the wing-like structures at the top of the hip bone -- was more than 30 centimeters, or 11.8 inches. The risk also was higher if these wing-like structures were round. The breast cancer risk was 2.5 times higher for the daughters of women in whom the widest distance was more than 3 centimeters greater than the distance at the front.
According to the study, breast cancer may be established in the growing embryo in the first trimester of pregnancy when it is exposed to high levels of sex hormones circulating in the mother's body.
Hip Size Of Mothers Linked To Breast Cancer In Daughters
August 25, 2007
Acrylamide Not Linked to Breast Cancer
A new study involving 100,000 U.S. women has found that acrylamide at levels found in food is not linked to breast cancer. Acrylamide is highest in fried and baked foods like French fries and potato chips. It is also found in coffee.
The leader of the study, Lorelei Mucci, ScD, said:
"At levels consumed in the diet, it appears unlikely that acrylamide in foods is related to breast cancer risk ... Although we do not rule out that very high levels of acrylamide could cause cancer, it appears that at the levels found in the diet, it is unlikely."
The same group of researchers also found no connection between acrylamide in food and bladder, kidney, and colon cancer.
Still, many experts agree that more studies on acrylamide in the diet and a link to cancer need to be done before the risk can be completely ruled out.
July 11, 2007
Typical Western Diet Increases Breast Cancer Risk
A new study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention has found that post-menopausal Chinese women who eat a Western diet loaded with meat, dairy products, and sugar have a 60 percent higher risk of breast cancer than women who eat a traditional Chinese diet heavy in vegetables and soy.
The Western diet raised the risk especially high for estrogen-receptor positive tumors, raising the risk of developing this kind of breast cancer by 90 percent.
The same increased risks were not found for pre-menopausal women eating a typical Western diet.
Marilyn Tseng of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia said: "Most studies have tended to look at single dietary factors. And what was unique about this study is that we tried to describe patterns of intake -- foods that go together, that seem to occur together in the diet."
February 2, 2007
Dense Breasts Increase Breast Cancer Risk
It used to be believed that women with dense breast tissue had higher rates of breast cancer because the dense breast tissue made it more difficult to spot small tumors on a mammogram. Now, that belief is changing.
Canadian researchers reported last month in The New England Journal of Medicine that there may be more to it than just difficulty in screening.
The results suggest very dense breasts don't just mask tumors but pose "an underlying biological risk," says Dr. Norman Boyd of the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto, lead author of the study.
Tests find cancer in dense breasts
Tags: breast cancer, cancer news, mammogram, health
