Weight and Risk of Breast Cancer After Menopause

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Reprinted from the NCI Cancer Bulletin, vol. 3/no. 29, July 18, 2006 (see the current issue).

Gaining weight after age 18, specifically after menopause, increases a woman's risk of breast cancer after menopause, whereas losing weight after menopause can reduce the risk, researchers at Harvard Medical School have found. They say that many cases of breast cancer could be avoided by women losing weight after menopause.

The researchers suggest that women should be advised to avoid weight gain during adulthood to decrease their postmenopausal breast cancer risk. Hormones are directly related to breast cancer risk, and associations found in the study may be explained in part by the effect of gaining weight on hormones, the researchers report in the July 12, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (see the journal abstract).

Dr. A. Heather Eliassen and her colleagues tracked participants in the Nurses' Health Study. To assess weight change since age 18, they followed 87,000 women for up to 26 years. They followed 49,500 women for up to 24 years to assess weight change since menopause.

Among the women, 4,400 had invasive breast cancer. After adjusting for multiple breast cancer risk factors, the researchers found that women who gained 55 lbs. or more after age 18 had almost 1½ times the risk of cancer compared with those who maintained their weight. A gain of 22 lbs. after menopause was associated with an increased risk of 18 percent. Losing 22 lbs. after menopause decreased the risk by 57 percent.

"Although these data suggest that it is never too late to lose weight to decrease risk, given the difficulty in losing weight, the emphasis must also remain on weight maintenance throughout adult life," they conclude.