Obesity and excess weight have long become breast cancer risk factors. A new study shows that on the overall weight increases the breast cancer recurrence risk too. Basically, extra pounds, even if moderately overweight, will boost your risk of breast cancer recurrence.
This Monday, journal Cancer published a research by Montefiore Medical Center experts that linked weight as a factor in the increase of the breast cancer recurrence risk. For women that went through this damaging cancer, staying away from excess weight seems like the wisest course of action.
Researchers found that the weight of a woman boosts the odds of developing breast cancer all over again. Basically the higher a woman’s body mass index, the more likely it is her health will be challenged by breast cancer again. The fat cells in the body are at fault for the increased risk of breast cancer recurrence.
The findings showed that women that were obese when they received treatment for breast cancer the first time had a 30 percent higher risk of cancer recurrence. The same women had a 50 percent higher risk of dying than breast cancer patients with a normal body mass index.
“Obesity seemed to carry a higher risk of breast cancer recurrence and death – even in women who were healthy at the time that they were diagnosed” said Dr. Joseph Sparano, lead study author. He also added weight was a factor in increasing breast cancer recurrence risk despite “receiving the best available chemotherapy and hormone therapy”.
“As fat cells also are producers of estrogen, obese persons may not have the same degree of estrogen suppression from anti-estrogen therapies used to treat and prevent breast cancer” explained for ABC News assistant professor of oncology Dr. Jennifer Litton with University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Dr. Sparano thinks the risk would be reduced with the right treatment strategy. “Treatment strategies aimed at interfering with hormonal changes and inflammation caused by obesity may help reduce the risk of recurrence”, he explained.
The National Cancer Institute estimates one in eight American women will develop breast cancer during their life. With that in mind, staying within the normal averages of the BMI never made more sense.
