Is There a Connection?

Americans are suffering from expanding waistlines, an obesity epidemic that overlaps with a corresponding rise in diabetes: 64 percent of us sit in the overweight/obese red zone. Whether the trend is caused by our sedentary, fast-food lifestyles, consuming too many calories or deteriorating school physical education programs that set the stage for adult inactivity, the result is serious. Along with tobacco, obesity and inactivity now account for the top underlying causes of preventable death in the U.S. and an increased risk of the top three causes of death: heart disease, cancer and cerebrovascular ailments such as strokes.

Obesity and Type 2 diabetes (now the most prevalent form of diabetes for all ages) often go hand in hand, although researchers are still determining the exact nature of their complicated relationship. Weight control becomes critical for diabetics, as do the kinds of food consumed.

When breast cancer is added to the picture, National Institute of Health studies show that obesity contributes directly to breast cancer mortality, particularly for postmenopausal women. For this group, peripheral fat is the primary source of estrogens (no longer the ovaries), the major modifiable risk factor for postmenopausal breast cancer. A weight gain of more than 20 pounds from age 18 to midlife doubles a woman's risk of breast cancer.

While not a cause and effect relationship, it's clear that those at risk for diabetes due to obesity must also be concerned about their breast cancer risk.