Weight gain linked to higher risk of breast cancer

PUTTING on weight throughout adulthood can increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer in middle age, research has shown.

Obesity was already known to be associated with post-menopausal breast cancer. The new findings, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in the US, link the risk of developing the disease after the menopause with weight gain from the age of 18.

Dr Jiyoung Ahn and colleagues at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, analysed data from 99,039 post- menopausal women.

In 1996, the women reported their current body measurements and weight, as well as their weight at ages 18, 35 and 50.

Body Mass Index (BMI), a measurement which correlates weight and height, was used to classify weight category — underweight, normal, overweight, obese.

Throughout 2000, 2,111 of the women developed breast cancer. In those who were not on HRT, periods of weight gain after the age of 18 were each associated with an increased risk.

Women who were not overweight or obese at 18, but were at ages 35 and 50, had a 1.4 times higher risk of developing breast cancer.