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.