“Obese postmenopausal women have up to a 30 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer compared to a nonobese woman, which is 7 to 8 percent.”
Obesity is related to a large number of neoplasms, including breast cancer, the most common malignant tumor and the leading cause of death in women worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Surgeon Oncologist, Joel Lucas Estrada, explains that the main risk for the development of breast cancer is gender, “being a woman gives you a higher risk, according to statistics for every 100 cases in women there is one in men” .
It notes that, “obese postmenopausal women have up to a 30 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer compared to a nonobese woman, which is 7 to 8 percent.”
He explains that “the risk with obesity is that hormone-expressive cancers develop,” that is, “those that express hormone receptors,” and in women it is due to high levels of circulating estrogen.
A postmenopausal woman “with central obesity has a higher risk of developing breast cancer, because there is conversion of hormones to estrogens in peripheral fat,” he adds.
“Since she has a lot of fatty tissue, the risk increases, because there is greater estrogenic conversion after her menopause, that is, in the fatty tissue the insulin-leptin-adiponectin axis is altered.”
It specifies that when an obese postmenopausal woman develops breast cancer, she has a very high risk of dying from the disease, compared to a woman with normal weight “perhaps 10, 15 or 20 percent more”.
Another factor that influences is the anatomical issue, “when seeking medical help the probability that the disease is more developed is greater than in a thin woman”, since “by having a voluminous breast if it is a small tumor it is not can be palpated, which makes early diagnosis difficult”.
Increasing “the risk that it spreads to the lymph nodes in the armpit and neck, even the disease spreads to another part of the body.”
Lucas points out that the recurrence in obese women after having overcome breast cancer is greater than in a woman with normal weight, since “it continues with that estrogenic stimulus”.
Likewise, it clarifies that “the effect of ‘grasita’ is accentuated for the risk in postmenopausal women, in young women it has not been conclusive that having obesity generates more risk.”
He explains that an obese man can also develop breast cancer, since “the distribution of fat goes to the fibroglandular tissue, it also has peripheral estrogenic conversion, it can give him cancer, and even more so if he has a genetic mutation.”
The relationship when you have an inherited genetic mutation is that breast cancer “appears at an early age, around 20 years”, representing 5 to 10 percent of cancers, according to the WHO.
Finally, it highlights that there is no method to prevent breast cancer 100 percent, but there are certain measures that can be taken to reduce the risk of developing it.
“An early pregnancy, before the age of 30, protects automatically”, because it stops menstruating, during menstruation the hormones influence “the estrogenic bombardment, which causes that constant stimulus”.
Prolonged breastfeeding is another protective factor, because menstruation stops.
“Lifestyle impacts the development of many cancers,” which is why she advises following the WHO-recommended exercise routine, which is “300 to 350 minutes per week in 30-minute intervals, a woman who sticks to this exercise routine reduces the risk of developing breast cancer by up to 20 percent”.
There are other extreme prevention methods, such as prophylactic mastectomy, which “consists of removing the breast fibroglandular tissue”, however, “does not provide 100 percent protection”.
It also includes ovarian ablation, “because that’s where the estrogenic bombardment comes from”, it is “a castration that can be surgical, pharmacological or with radiation”, but it does not protect women with obesity “due to the estrogenic stimulation in peripheral fat ”.
For an early diagnosis it is important to carry out constant check-ups, “the ideal is a mammography accompanied by a breast ultrasound, starting at 40 years of age”, as well as self-examination.
Article published on May 15, 2022 in the 1007 edition of the weekly Ríodoce.
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