Breast cancer in the news

Once again we report some of the more interesting tidbits found in the news in the last 2 weeks.

Here is a rather alarming and well done study. Researchers at Univ of Southern California found that eating 1/4 of a grapefruit or more per day was associated with a 30 percent increase in breast cancer risk in certain postmenopausal women. The increased risk from eating 1/4 or more of a grapefruit per day was seen in women who never took hormone therapy to treat menopausal symptoms as well as in women who were taking estrogen alone or combined estrogen and progesterone. Breast cancer risk was also higher in the thin women who ate grapefruit than it was in the overweight women who did. The probable mechanism is that grapefruit increases estrogen levels - increased estrogen is a known risk factor for breast cancer.

Even Dr. Susan Love says the study is well done. She does not recommend abandoning grapefruit but cautions it may be wise to cut down intake. This is a rather strong recommendation from a very well respected authority. Most readers know I'm generally wary of the multitude of reports of this type. There are just so many. But the grapefruit report has gotten my attention. Be careful of the well known grapefruit diet!


US scientists have now said that women should think twice before taking the herbal therapy black cohosh. The report indicates the herb can increase the chance of breast cancer cells migrating from the breast to the lung.


In a report on their findings, published in the journal Cancer Research, they said: "These results suggest caution for black cohosh use in women with and without breast cancer."
Black cohash has been popular as a natural treatment of menopausal symptoms. I think the popularity is about to go down!

And now for some good news!

As reported in the journal Breast Cancer Research.

Researchers followed 32,269 post-menopausal women for eleven years and found that vigorous exercise was protective against breast cancer - independent of body weight.

Vigorous activity was defined as anything from strenuous sports such as running, biking up hills, and aerobics to taxing housework such as scrubbing floors, chopping wood or heavy yard work.
Fascinatingly, non-vigorous activity was not protective (non-vigorous activity included walking, light housework, leisure biking).

One of the takeaways of this article is woman may want to think about increasing the intensity level of their exercise. But I make this comment with hesitation. The increase in injuries, accidents, heart attacks etc may negate the positive effects for some woman. That said, if a woman is in good general health and has a doctors OK then the increased intensity should be good for women on many levels. Just do it!

That's it for this week in the news. I find the above particularly interesting because all three of the above are popular foods or activities. But more importantly they are things women can do right now - today - to lower the risk of breast cancer.