High body fat levels may up breast cancer risk, warns new study

Postmenopausal women with normal body mass index (BMI), but with higher body fat levels are at an increased risk of developing breast cancer, a study warns.

 

Body fat levels are typically measured via BMI, which is a ratio of weight to height.

 

While BMI may be a convenient method to estimate body fat, it is not an exact way to determine whole body fat levels, as muscle mass and bone density cannot be distinguished from fat mass.

 

The study included participants who had a normal BMI (between 18.5 to 25.0) and no history of breast cancer.

 

During the median 16 years of follow-up, the participants were assessed for the development of invasive breast cancer, and cancer cases were evaluated for estrogen receptor (ER) positivity.

 

Of the 3,460 participants in the study, 182 developed invasive breast cancer during follow-up; 146 of these cases were ER-positive.