Weight Gain Linked to Breast Cancer

A large study of weight gain in womenoffered even more evidence linkingexcessive weight to breast cancer.Researchers reviewed data on >44,000women and determined that, the moreweight a woman gained, the higher herrisk was to develop breast cancer of anytype, stage, or grade.Women who gained>60 lb during adulthood were comparedwith women who gained <20 lb. Theresults showed that the women whogained more weight were nearly twice aslikely to have ductal-type breast tumorsand >1.5 times as likely to have lobulartypecancers. The risk of breast cancerthat had spread tripled for those womenwho gained >60 lb. The findings appearedin the July 1, 2006, issue of Cancer.

Ms. Farley is a freelance medicalwriter based in Wakefield, RI.