Healthy lifestyle during menopause may decrease breast cancer
risk later on Obese, postmenopausal women are at greater risk
for developing breast cancer and their cancers tend to be more
aggressive than those in lean counterparts. A University of
Colorado Cancer Center study published in the December issue of
the journal Cancer Research shows how this risk might be
prevented. "By using nutrient tracers for fat and sugar, we
tracked where the body stored excess calories. In lean models,
excess fat and glucose were taken up by the liver, mammary and
skeletal tissues. In obese models, excess fat and glucose were
taken up by tumors, fueling their growth," says Erin Giles, PhD,
postdoctoral researcher at the CU Cancer Center and the paper's
lead author. In short, if you are lean, excess calories go to
healthy tissue. If you are obese, excess calories feed the
tumor. "This implies that the menopausal window may be an
opportunity for women to control their breast cancer risk
through weight management," Giles says. I