Cancer Prevention: Study Shows Weight Loss Reduces Breast Cancer Risk For Older Women

A recently published study appears to have found a link between weight loss and a decreased risk of breast cancer in older women. Published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the study found that losing and keeping off weight may help post-menopausal women avoid breast cancer.

“What we found was that indeed, women who lost weight and kept it off had a lower risk of breast cancer than women who stayed the same weight,” Lauren Teras, lead author of the report and Director of Epidemiology Research for the American Cancer Society, said.

The report culled data from 10 different studies, with 180,000 women over 50 being tracked over the course of a decade. Weight was monitored at the start, middle, and conclusion of the study. Overall, women who were able to lose and keep off at least 4.5 pounds were 13% less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer. The effect increased the more the subjects lost, with 20 pounds cutting the risk of cancer by around 25%.

“It gives us more certainty and more confidence that losing weight, even after a certain age, is associated with a lower risk (of breast cancer),” Karen Basen-Engquist, professor of behavioral science at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said.

Medical science long ago found that obesity increased the risk of breast cancer in older women. Now, this study has found significant evidence that the reverse can act as a preventative measure. Roughly two in three women in American are either overweight or obese, according to Women's Health.