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Obesity can wreck a person’s health for many reasons. But for women, too much weight tacks on an additional danger: Studies have linked obesity and breast cancer in a variety of ways.

Doctors aren’t sure why this link exists and are trying to figure out what ties weight gain to breast cancer. But they are more and more convinced the link is there, and they are urging women to watch their weight and increase their exercise to help stave off what is the most common cancer among females, nonmelanoma skin cancer aside.

“There are a lot of factors we need to figure out,” said Dr. Jennifer A. Ligibel, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “There are a lot of things we don’t know.”

An estimated 182,500 women in the United States will be found to have invasive breast cancer in 2008, according to the American Cancer Society, and about 40,480 women will die from the disease this year. Currently, there are about 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the United States.

Studies have found that, in general, obesity is linked to cancer. The higher a person’s body-mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight to height), the more likely she or he will develop cancer, according to recent research by scientists at the University of Manchester in England. Other studies have found similar links to increased body fat.

Still other studies have found that women with breast cancer are more likely to live shorter lives and suffer a recurrence of their cancer if they are overweight.

For example, in a recent study conducted at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, more than two-thirds of women with stage III locally advanced breast cancer were either overweight or obese. The study also found that a greater proportion of obese patients were likely to be diagnosed with a rare and more deadly form of breast cancer, known as inflammatory breast cancer.

Scientists vary in their opinions on why this link exists, and what it means.

Some believe that obesity may make tumors harder to detect, so a woman’s breast cancer will be further developed before it is discovered.

“It could be because there’s more breast tissue, a lump would be less evident,” Ligibel said.

Researchers also believe that the systemic effects of obesity might do something to spur cancer on. For example, obesity or overweight can lead to fluctuations in hormone levels in the body.

“When women are heavier, their estrogen levels are higher,” Ligibel said. “That could be a pathway through which weight affects breast cancer. Other studies have shown that when insulin levels are high, there’s more chance a cancer will come back.”

Another link to obesity was found in a study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that showed that obese women are more likely to skip screenings for breast and cervical cancer. Without those screenings, women are less likely to catch breast cancer at a more treatable stage.

Debbie Saslow, director of breast and gynecologic cancer at the American Cancer Society, said it’s not completely clear what role obesity plays in breast cancer risk.

“For obesity, which is independent of breast size, I would think two factors would come into play,” Saslow said. “One, a positive, is that the breasts may be fattier, which would make a mammogram easier to read. The second, a negative, is indirect: Obese women are less likely to go to a doctor.”

Menopause appears to be a critical time, Ligibel said. Obesity creates a greater risk for breast cancer post-menopause, while pre-menopausal women actually have a reduced risk.

“Gaining weight around the time of menopause is a risk factor in developing breast cancer,” Ligibel said.

The increased risk of developing breast cancer and dying of it after menopause is believed due to increased levels of estrogen in obese women, said Colleen Doyle, director of nutrition and physical activity with the American Cancer Society.

There is good news. Studies have shown that exercise — 30 minutes to 60 minutes a day of moderate-to-high intensity physical activity — decreases breast cancer risk, Doyle said.

“Physical activity reduces breast cancer risk both directly, by decreasing circulating estrogens, and also indirectly, by helping with weight control,” she said. “Women are so concerned about breast cancer risk. Communicating that there are key things you can do to reduce risk — watch your weight and be more active — are valuable messages.”

Ligibel agreed, noting that exercise might be valuable enough to counteract the strain on the body caused by obesity.

“You might not need to lose weight if you exercise,” Ligibel said. “Exercise could affect the hormone levels and help keep cancer from occurring or recurring.”

By HealthDay

When we reach 50 years of age or there about many of us become more concerned than ever before about our health and weight. Subsequently if we are over 50, overweight or obese we become more mindful of the fact. Should we be concerned? You bet we should (That is if we care about the longevity and the quality of our life as we get older). There is a direct correlation between weight and health. We know inherently if we are indeed carrying more weight than we should and that we need to lose extra weight in order to cut body fat. How do we know we are overweight or obese? Well, we can look in the mirror. But a more scientific approach would be to calculate what is called the BMI (Body Mass Index). This is simply put - a ratio between weight and height letting us know if we have more body fat than we should. In the USA alone 27% are obese and 64% are overweight. If you are overweight or obese you are not alone. You are among 130,000,000 US adults. Obesity is the 2nd leading cause of preventable death and as many of us are already aware obesity is closely related to conditions such as: Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Cancer, Diabetes, Arthritis, Gout, Asthma, and Gum Disease. Obesity occurs when a person consumes more calories than (s)he burns. What causes this imbalance between consuming and burning of calories can be any of the following: Age, Gender, Genetics, Environmental Factors, Physical Activity, Psychological Factors, Illness and Medication. Here we will focus on one aspect of this weight and health correlation – telomeres. Telomeres are part of the cells’ chromosomes, which house DNA. They are part of what our body uses for cell repair. White blood cells show telltale signs of aging when weight gain or insulin resistance is present. The length of the white blood cells’ telomeres naturally gets shorter with age. So we do not want them to shorten any faster than they will naturally. Why does obesity cause them to shrink faster than normal? Cell damaging free radicals and inflammation might be responsible. Obesity is associated with increased inflammation because fat tissue is a major source of inflammatory chemicals. Inflammation burns out white blood cells faster and the effort of replacing them wears down the telomeres. Obesity is also thought to be linked to free radical damage. The damaged cells become free radicals. That can hurt DNA in normal cells laying the foundation for health problems. No matter what you think, you can lose weight and start living a better quality of life no matter what your age. Go to your doctor for a checkup. So decide now (especially if you are neer or over 50, overweight or obese )to lose extra weight and cut body fat. You can do it and it is not that hard, all you need is a commitment to yourself and those you love.
by ELIZABETH MUESCH

Hoping that anti-obesity drugs will help achieve dramatic weight loss? Not likely, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal. At best, the weight loss will be modest, while many patients will remain significantly obese or overweight. The study reviewed the effectiveness of three drugs—orlistat, sibutramine and rimonabant—for long term weight loss, and found that weight loss totaled less than 5 kg (11 pounds), or less than 5% of total body weight. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommends that use of anti-obesity drugs be stopped if 5% of body weight has not been lost after 3 months. Changing lifestyle and diet are the recommended initial treatment for obesity, but estimates for anti-obesity drug use in 2005 total $1.2 billion. In the UK, guidelines recommend lifestyle changes combined with drug therapy if a patient’s body mass index is greater than 30. The findings from 30 placebo-controlled trials were analyzed by the Canadian researchers, with volunteers taking anti-obesity drugs for a year or longer. Their mean weight was 100 kg (15.7 stone), and their mean BMI levels were 35-36. Prof. Raj Padwal and colleagues found orlistat lowered weight by 2.9 kg, sibutramine by 4.2 kg and rimonabant by 4.7 kg. In addition, it was found that patients on weight loss pills were more likely to achieve a 5% — 10% weight loss, than those who took the placebo. Health benefits linked to drug usage varied. In one trial, orlistat reduced the incidence of diabetes, and all three drugs reduced levels of certain types of cholesterol. Rimonabant increased the risk of depression or anxiety, while adverse effects were noted with all three drugs. The authors recommended trials to examine the incidence of death or disease as a result of taking anti-obesity pills, since none existed at present. Professor Gareth Williams issued a warning of potential danger if anti-obesity drugs are licensed for sale without prescription, as they already are in the US: “Selling anti-obesity drugs over the counter will perpetuate the myth that obesity can be fixed simply by popping a pill and could further undermine the efforts to promote healthy living, which is the only long term escape from obesity.” Source: British Medical Journal,

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Overweight and obese women have a lower risk of breast cancer prior to menopause, researchers said on Monday in a finding they said both puzzles them and contradicts conventional wisdom.

The researchers admitted they do not know why the extra pounds (kg) may protect premenopausal women from breast cancer, but noted obesity actually greatly boosts breast cancer risk after menopause, when the disease more often is diagnosed.

“It is so puzzling. And it is not a good public health message,” said Karin Michels, associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School and lead researcher in the study.

“I don’t want women to use this as an excuse to be overweight. Therefore, it’s even more important for us to find out what the mechanisms are. I mean, the last thing we want is, in this day and age, to advise people to gain weight,” Michels said in a telephone interview.

The findings, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, were based on medical data from 113,130 premenopausal registered nurses tracked from 1989 to 2003. During that time, 1,398 cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed.

Women with a body mass index (a weight-for-height scale) of 30 or above — considered obese by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — had a 19 percent lower risk of premenopausal breast cancer than women in a normal weight range (body mass index between 20 and 22.4), the study found.

The lower risk was especially evident in young adults. Those with a body mass index at age 18 of 27.5 or higher, which makes them overweight or obese, had a 43 percent lower risk of breast cancer before menopause than women of normal weight at the same age.

Being overweight is linked to a broad range of health risks. The World Health Organization describes obesity as a growing problem in high-income nations as well as increasing numbers of low- and middle-income nations.

OVULATION FACTORS

Michels said some experts had suspected the reduced premenopausal breast cancer risk was the result of these women not ovulating as much due to their larger body size.

Some overweight women have irregular or long menstrual cycles, or develop a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome in which ovaries malfunction. These are linked to disruptions in ovulation that lower levels of certain hormones.

The suspicion had been that these lower hormone levels might explain the diminished breast cancer risk. But the researchers weighed these factors and concluded that they did not appear to be the cause.

“Now we’re back to square one in trying to explain with which kind of mechanisms a larger body size might protect women from breast cancer,” Michels said, adding she plans further research.

She speculated the findings might be explained by the fact that obese women are less likely to be screened for breast cancer, and that is harder to detect tumors in these women.

“If we just detect the cancer later and therefore delay the time of diagnosis of the cancer into their post-menopausal years, then that might be an explanation,” Michels said.

Michels said the link between weight and breast cancer risk varies by age. High weight at birth and then after menopause is linked to a heightened risk, while high weight in young adulthood is associated with a reduced risk, she said.

Source: Yahoo News

Postmenopausal women who want to significantly decrease their breast-cancer risk would be wise to exercise regularly and keep their weight within a normal range for their height, according to new findings from the Women’s Health Initiative to be published in the journal Obesity.

The multicenter team of researchers, led by Anne McTiernan, M.D., Ph.D., of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, found that women who had the lowest body-mass index, or BMI, and the highest physical-activity levels had the lowest levels of circulating estrogens, sex hormones that can fuel breast-cancer growth.

Specifically, they found a significant decrease in the two most common, biologically active forms of estrogen, estrone and estradiol, among the most active, lean women studied. The researchers found that women with high BMI and low physical-activity had mean estrogen concentrations that were 50 percent to 100 percent higher than that of women with low BMI and high activity levels.

“Women with high levels of estrogens have a two-to-four-times-higher risk of breast cancer than women with very low levels,” said McTiernan, a member of the Hutchinson Center’s Public Health Sciences Division and co-investigator of the Women’s Health Initiative Clinical Coordinating Center, which is based at the Center. “If a woman can keep her own natural estrogens lower after menopause, it is probably going to be beneficial in terms of reducing her risk of breast cancer.”

The study, based on a random sample of 267 postmenopausal women nationwide selected from the WHI Dietary Modification Trial, is the first of its kind to examine the dual impact of body weight and physical activity on levels of various circulating sex hormones thought to impact cancer risk.

“Other studies have looked at the impact of body weight by itself or physical activity by itself but this is the first to look at both together regarding their influence on hormone levels,” McTiernan said. “This gives us a new understanding that combining weight control with high levels of physical activity is necessary for keeping estrogens at a healthy level in postmenopausal women.” Exercising vigorously for 30 to 60 minutes a day, five days a week would achieve this benefit, McTiernan said.