Study: The risk of breast cancer is lower in obese young women

What we know, obesity is one of the main risk factors for a number of cancers. Obesity has also long been named as a trigger for breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women. However, recent international research has revealed that the risk of breast cancer actually decreases in young women who are obese. Why
Postmenopausal obese women are more likely to develop breast cancer

Excessive fat accumulation in the body due to obesity, especially abdominal fat, will force the body to produce the hormone estrogen beyond normal limits. In fact, excessive estrogen levels have long been associated with the onset of breast cancer. In addition, fat cells can trigger long-term inflammation in the body.

However, this risk will be higher in obese women at menopause. During menopause itself, even without the risk of obesity, the body will naturally produce more estrogen.

This is why women who are overweight and obese (BMI greater than 25) have a higher risk of breast cancer after menopause than women who are healthy weight. healthy weight Being overweight can also increase the risk of recurrence of breast cancer among cancer sufferers. Chronic inflammation has been linked to a higher risk of breast cancer recurrence.
So why does obesity actually reduce the risk of breast cancer in young women?


Contrary to what we know so far, a recent collaborative study by the Pre-Menopausal Breast Cancer Research Group and the International Cancer Research found that obesity reduces the risk of breast cancer in women at not becoming menopausal (perimenopause). The study was published in the journal JAMA Oncology after observing the risk of breast cancer in more than 700,000 women under 55 years.

Researchers report that women with a high body mass index (indicating being overweight or even obese) but have not yet started menopause are actually at a lower risk of developing breast cancer. They also found that the risk of breast cancer in young women of normal weight remained lower than in postmenopausal women

"We found that when the BMI index increased, the risk of cancer decreased," said Nichols, teaching assistant at the Gillings UNC School of Global Public Health, involved in the study.

Every 5-point increase in BMI score for women aged 18 to 24 will have a 23% lower risk of breast cancer. With exactly the same increase in BMMI scores, the risk is reduced by 15% in the 25-34 age group, and in the 35-44 age group, the risk of breast cancer decreases by 13%. The risk of breast cancer decreased by 12% in the group of women aged 45 to 54 years who also experienced an increase in body mass index (BMI) of about 5 units.

However, it is not clear where BMI scores indicate that the risk of breast cancer is starting to increase.


Not that you can deliberately fatten the body excessively, you know!
They suspect that the mechanism of appearance of breast cancer in younger women is slightly different from the general theory, described in the paragraph above.

Researchers believe that many factors influence the relationship between high BMI scores and low cancer risk among young women. One of them is the difference in the amount of hormones, such as estrogen, growth hormone and breast density.

But the researchers strongly insist that the results of this study were not published to help women who are deliberately overweight to gain weight in order to avoid cancer. The potential long-term health problems associated with obesity remain more dangerous than the benefits, which are even uncertain.

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