HomeCancer40% Of Hormone Positive Breast Cancers May Be Linked To Obesity

40% Of Hormone Positive Breast Cancers May Be Linked To Obesity

“Our findings suggest that the population impact could be underestimated when using traditional BMI estimates,"

The American Cancer Society estimates that 310,720 new cases of breast cancers will be diagnosed in 2024. The 5 years relative survival rate for all types and stages of breast cancer in America is 91% and for localized breast cancer, the rate is 99%. The risk of developing breast cancer nearly doubles if a woman has a first-degree relative with breast cancer, and around 5-10% of cases are linked to inherited gene mutations. 

1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, and 2,800 men will also be diagnosed with invasive breast cancers, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Meaning that the chances are that you know at least one person who has been affected by breast cancer. When caught early enough, the survival rate is good, thanks to advances in early detection and treatment methods. Conservative estimates suggest that there are currently over 4 million breast cancer survivors in the United States alone. 

Likely been underestimated for years 

Obesity might be causing more breast cancers than previously thought, a study recently published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health suggests that about 40% of hormone-positive breast cancers are linked to excess body fat. Which is significantly higher than previous estimates linking obesity to 1 in 10 cases based on measures of BMI.

“The findings of this study highlight the importance of considering more accurate measures of body fat than BMI to estimate the cancer burden attributable to obesity in postmenopausal breast cancer,” concluded the research team led by Veronica Davila-Batista, an associate professor of epidemiology with the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain.

The researchers of this study argue that the real-world impact of obesity on breast cancers has more than likely been underestimated for decades because BMI is not a very accurate measure of body fat. For this study, they compared BMI with a different measure of body fat called the CUN-BAE (Clínica Universidad de Navarra–Body Adiposity Estimator), which is an equation that accounts for gender and age in BMI measurements for comparison.

BMI vs CUN-BAE

These two measures were used to weigh 1,022 women with breast cancers and another 1,143 matched women without cancer. According to the researchers, close to 23% of the breast cancer cases were linked to excess body weight as measured by BMI, while 38% of the breast cancer cases were linked to excess fat as measured by CUN-BAE. 

Hormone-positive cancers

Additionally, the differences were the strongest for hormone-positive breast cancers which are driven by female hormones like estrogen. Using the CUN-BAE equation there was twice as much risk for hormone-positive breast cancers linked to excess fat, finding a 42% increased risk compared to 20% when using BMI.  This may be due to body fat increasing estrogen levels in women because fat tissue secretes the female hormone. 

“The results of our study indicate that excess body fat is a significant risk factor for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women,” the researchers wrote.

“This information could influence cancer prevention initiatives by highlighting the role of excess body fat in the development of breast cancer and by raising awareness among health care professionals and the public.”

Conclusion

“Our findings suggest that the population impact could be underestimated when using traditional BMI estimates, and that more accurate measures of body fat, such as CUN-BAE, should be considered when estimating the cancer burden attributable to obesity in postmenopausal breast cancer,” the research team concluded.


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References/Sources/Materials provided by:

https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/35/2/383/38428/Clinical-Usefulness-of-a-New-Equation-for

https://bmjgroup.com/around-40-of-postmenopausal-hormone-positive-breast-cancers-linked-to-excess-body-fat/

https://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2024/08/26/jech-2023-220706

veronica.davila@ulpgc.es

https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-cancer-facts/#:~:text=Breast%20cancer%20survival%20&%20mortality%20statistics,Chart%20source:%20American%20Cancer%20Society

Tamsyn Julie Webber
Tamsyn Julie Webberhttp://www.worldhealth.net
I'm a healthy aging advocate and journalist at WorldHealth.net working to help spread the message of Alternative Medicine, longevity, health, wellness, well-being, and the use of gentler more natural approaches whenever possible. To keep receiving the free newsletter opt in.