Saturday Nov 9, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- A case-control study released in the current issue of Cancer Causes & Control reveals that postmenopausal women who had four or more metabolic factors were at 136% increased risk for breast cancer compared with those who did not have any metabolic risk factors.

According to International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Worldwide Definition of the Metabolic Syndrome, metabolic risk factors include diabetes and pre-diabetes, abdominal obesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, most of which are heart attack risk factors.

Among the metabolic risk factors, obesity is the most influential risk factor for breast cancer.  Obesity was associated with 124% increased risk of breast cancer, according to the study.

The study involved 270 cases of incident breast cancer and 540 controls matched by age and menopausal status.  The study shows that more women with breast cancer were obese, having high triglyceride and low high density lipoprotein cholesterol although the rates of high fasting glucose and high blood pressure were similar in both groups.

Breast cancer is expected to be diagnosed in 300,000 American women every year and the disease and its complications kill about 37,000 annually. 

Breast cancer is largely a preventable disease.  There are any things food consumers can do to reduce the risk.  What may reduce the risk of breast cancer include V vitamins, vitamin D, soy foods, high dietary fiber, physical activity, vegan diet, fish oil, calorie restriction, Mediterranean diet, antioxidants and green tea and bitter melon. (David Liu, PHD)

Reference

June 2013, Volume 24, Issue 6, pp 1061-1068

Metabolic factors and breast cancer risk in Korean women

Hye-Mi Noh, Yun-Mi Song, Joo-Hyun Park, Bo-Kyoung Kim, Yoon-Ho Choi