Post-teen weight gain may signal breast cancer

According to recent research by the American Cancer Society, the amount of weight a woman gains after age 18 may be a strong predictor of whether or not she develops breast cancer.Women who gained 20 to 30 lb after they graduated from high school were 40% more likely to get breast cancer than were those women who did not put on weight. If a woman gained more than 70 lb, the risk doubled. In a long-term cancer prevention study, women aged 50 to 74 reported their weight at age 18 and when the study began in 1992. Of the 62,756 women involved, 1934 developed breast cancer.