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Obesity link to breast cancer

*Post-menopausal women who are overweight run a greater risk of developing breast cancer, according to new research.

A study conducted by Cancer Research UK found older women with high amounts of oestrogen and testosterone are twice as likely to develop the disease than those with low levels.

Obesity is the biggest-known reason for high levels of sex hormones among post-menopausal women.

The research is based on data from nine separate studies in Britain, America, Italy and Japan. It monitors a total of 1,765 healthy women and 663 with breast cancer.

In each study, blood samples were taken from post-menopausal women, and their levels of sex hormones measured.

 

They were then followed for a number of years to see who developed breast cancer. One-fifth of the women with the highest levels of hormones in their blood were compared with those who had the lowest.

Researchers found that high levels of free estradiol, an active form of oestrogen, more than doubled the risk of breast cancer compared with women who had low levels of the hormone.

 

*Women who work during pregnancy are five times as likely to suffer a potentially lethal complication caused by high blood pressure, according to new research.

A study of female physicians in America shows more than half of women continue to work up to the day before they give birth, or the day itself.

Research claims these women could be increasing the risk both to themselves and their babies.

Scientists found that working mothers-to-be had an almost five-fold greater chance of suffering pre-eclampsia late in their pregnancies.

The researchers monitored the blood pressure of 933 women in their early to late 20s over a period of 24 hours. All were between 18 and 24 weeks pregnant with their first child.

 

They were divided into those who were working during pregnancy, those who were not working, and those who were employed but chose not to work.

Women who were working had the highest blood pressure readings of the groups.

There were no differences in length of pregnancy, birth weight or method of delivery, but working women were almost five time more likely to develop pre-eclampsia.