Every year National Women’s Health Week turns our attention to the importance of women’s health issues and encourages women to take important steps to safeguard their health. Men can play a role by supporting the women in their lives to do the following:

Step 1 – Get regular check-ups and screenings

Women’s Health Week kicks off on Monday with National Check-up Day. If you haven’t already done so, it’s a good time to pick up the phone and schedule your next regular check-up or screening.

Regular checkups provide a number of benefits to women:

• Screening tests, such as mammograms and Pap tests, can find diseases early, when they are easier to treat. Some women need certain screening tests earlier or more often than other women do. Recent changes in health care laws require that  women can now receive some types of preventive screenings without copays.

• Screenings and routine care can help women lower their risks of many health conditions, including heart disease, the leading cause of death among women.

Step 2 – Get regular exercise.

Step 3 – Eat a healthy diet.

Step 4 – Get adequate sleep and manage stress to promote good mental health.

Getting Started

We realize that for many women these steps sound like a very tall order to fill in an already hectic schedule. But the truth is that’s exactly why women need to take time for these important preventive measures—to keep up with their demanding lives.

Hopefully some of these tips and tools from our health library will help get you started:

• Women: Go-to Health Guidelines at Any Age

• BUSTED! Health & Aging Myths that Every Woman Should Know

• Exercise Myths for Adults Over 40

• 8 Natural Ways to Fight Weight Gain During Menopause

• Practical Ways to Strike a Work/Life Balance and Reduce Stress

Source:

Women’s Health

Something happens to your body around age 25 that can cause you to start gaining weight, even if your food intake and exercise levels have not changed—your metabolism starts to slow down. And, it continues to slow by about 2% per decade as you get older. When you add this to the fact that physical activity also tends to decline with age—it’s no wonder maintaining a healthy weight is so challenging.

Unfortunately, if our response to gaining weight is to go on a crash diet, we may lose a few pounds initially, but often end up gaining it back--plus a few pounds!

What Happened?

Crash diets, in which we take in too few calories, force our bodies to look elsewhere for nutrients to maintain bodily functions. Often this means breaking down muscle to “steal” nutrients. But since lean muscle is a calorie burning machine, losing muscle means burning fewer calories—the opposite of what we want.

Too few calories also puts your body into “conservation mode” which further slows your metabolic rate and increases fat storage.

The result: Short term weight loss followed by the effects of a lower metabolic rate—weight gain, fatigue and depression.

At this point, many people feel the situation is hopeless, blame themselves or the diet and try again, repeating a vicious cycle of yo-yo dieting that is hard on the body and doesn’t achieve the desired result.

So what’s the Answer?

Diet and metabolism experts say that most healthy adults can lose weight safely and for good if they follow a few guidelines.

• A combination of moderate calorie reduction and increased physical activity works best
• If you only have a few pounds to lose, try increasing your level of physical activity and/or cutting about 100-200 calories per day.
• Slow and gradual weight loss of no more than 1-2 pounds per week should be the goal.
• Physical activity should include both weight bearing and cardio exercises if health permits.
• Make sure you consume enough protein and other nutrients to help you build muscle.
• Avoid empty calories from foods like sugary drinks and snacks.

The good news is you can increase your metabolic rate as you gain more lean muscle.

We provide more tips in the article, The Healthy Way to Lose Weight…Naturally and for Good.

Sources:

Centers For Disease Control

The Washington Post

There was a time that doctors recommended rest as part of overcoming most physical maladies--from a sprained ankle to cancer.

But as time goes by, researchers are finding that exercise can sometimes speed healing and help fight disease. The challenge has been to conduct research to tease out those instances when exercise is helpful and when it is not.

A new review of research into the effects of exercise on cancer patients is one such example. In the past, people with cancer-related fatigue were advised to rest. However, long periods of inactivity often led to muscle wasting and increased tiredness.

But after looking at findings of over 56 studies on cancer-related fatigue, researchers concluded that exercise can help relieve fatigue as well as improve mood and reduce anxiety. A total of 4,068 people with cancer were included in the research and half of the studies were carried out in people with breast cancer.

Those with solid tumors benefited from aerobic exercise, such as walking or cycling, both during and after cancer treatment. Other forms of exercise, including resistance training, did not significantly reduce fatigue.

The study authors said that more research is needed to understand how the frequency and duration of exercise, and type of cancer, affect the results. It is also important to note that the study does not suggest that exercise should replace rest, only that a exercise may improve fatigue.

Cancer-Related Fatigue

Fatigue is a common and potentially long-lasting side effect of cancer and cancer treatment, which may last for months or years. It can have a significant impact on quality of life, not only interfering with daily activities, but also having the potential for negative social and economic consequences.

Therefore, dealing with cancer-related fatigue is crucial to effective treatment, because suffering from the effects of fatigue may make you less inclined to continue with treatment.

Cancer patients should discuss any side effects they may be experiencing with their doctor to determine the best course of action to reduce or eliminate them.

Sources:

The Cochrane Collaboration

EurekAlert!

In life, sometimes timing is everything. That old adage appears to apply to shedding pounds too.

The current body of research on how foods affect our metabolism and fat storage demonstrates that when we eat may be just as important as what we eat.

Here are some guidelines for dieters based on what we know about meal timing:

• Eat a balanced breakfast – Eating a breakfast containing complex carbohydrates and protein can assist weight loss in a few ways. First it helps keep blood sugar levels stable and satisfies hunger so you are not famished by lunchtime and more inclined to overeat. Second, it combats “dieter’s rebound.” This can happen if you try to drastically cut calories (starvation diets). Your body chemistry reacts with compensatory increases in hunger, craving and decreased levels of hormones that signal that you are satisfied and full.
• Eat lunch earlier than later - A Spanish study found that dieters who ate lunch before 3 p.m. lost 11% of their starting weight (22 lbs) compared to 9% weight loss or 17 pounds among those who ate lunch later in the day. All of the study participants were on the same diet and exercise plan with weight loss counseling.
• Avoid eating within 3-4 hours of bedtime - When you eat a late dinner or snack you may have extra food your stomach when you go to sleep. This not only increases the chance of indigestion and acid reflux, it increases the chance that food calories are not burned and end up being stored as fat.
• Spread out calories throughout the day – By eating three balanced meals of roughly the same amount of calories as well as having two between-meal snacks of no more than 150 – 200 calories, you can maintain healthy metabolic function without hunger cravings.

In following these tips, you’ll be consuming a meal or snack about every two to three hours. That works out to about six meals/snacks per 12 - 18 hour waking period.

When you add these basic timing guidelines to the tenants of good balanced nutrition and exercise you will have a winning strategy to lose weight—the healthy way.

Sources:

Reuters

Health Day News

Nutraceuticals World

WebMD

PubMed

In a recent national survey, Baby Boomers were asked which health conditions they feared most. Cancer topped the list, followed closely by Alzheimer’s Disease. And while there is still no cure for Alzheimer’s and many other forms of dementia, there are six lifestyle habits that can significantly cut your risk.

1. Stay Active - Physical exercise is essential for maintaining good blood flow to the brain as well as to promote new brain cells. It also can significantly reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke and diabetes, and which are also risk factors for Alzheimer's and other dementias.

A recent study found that individuals with the highest levels of fitness during middle age were 36% less likely to develop dementia in their senior years.

2. Eat a Brain-Healthy Diet - Research suggests that high cholesterol may contribute to stroke and brain cell damage. A low fat, low cholesterol diet is advisable. And there is growing evidence that a diet rich in dark vegetables and fruits, which contain antioxidants, may help protect brain cells.

3. Stay Mentally Active - Engaging in mentally stimulating activities – like fixing a puzzle or learning a new skill or language – helps strengthen brain cells and the connections between them, and may even create new nerve cells.

4. Get a Good Night’s Sleep – Sleep disorders including insomnia and sleep apnea have been associated with memory loss and dementia. If you wake frequently or do not feel rested upon waking, you may need to have the problem evaluated by a sleep specialist.

5. Reduce Stress – Chronic stress has been linked to higher levels of damaging buildup of amyloid precursor protein (APP) and tau protein, which is seen in Alzheimer’s and in other forms of dementia.

A Swedish study found that the risk of dementia was about 65% higher in women who reported repeated periods of stress in middle age than in those who did not.

6. Be Social - Social activity not only makes physical and mental activity more enjoyable, it can reduce stress levels, which helps maintain healthy connections among brain cells.

For more on supporting your brain health, read:

• Key Nutrients Linked to Brain Health
• Physical Exercise May Trump Mental Exercise for Brain Health
• Memory Food: The Many Ways to Protect Your Brain

Sources:

MedPage Today

The Examiner

Alzheimer’s Association

The Journal of Neuroscience

American Scientist

Every year stroke kills twice as many women as breast cancer, but a new study gives women a simple way to reduce their risk—take a walk.

The researchers found that women who walk at least three hours every week are less likely to have a stroke than women who walk less.

Among nearly 33,000 men and women who completed the study questionnaire, women who were regular walkers experienced a 43 percent reduction in stroke risk compared to the inactive group.

In addition, the scientists found that walking seemed to be more beneficial than other forms of exercise. Women who walked briskly for 3 or more hours per week not only had a lower stroke risk than inactive women but also lower than those who cycled and did other higher-intensity workouts for a shorter amount of time.

There was no reduction seen for men based on exercise type or frequency. The researchers are not sure why this occured, but hypothesized that the men in the study may have been in better physical condition than the women.

Women and Stroke

Women suffer more strokes each year than men, mainly because women live longer than men and stroke occurs more often at older ages. Annually, about 55,000 more women than men have strokes, but stroke incidence is higher in men than women at younger ages.

Both men and women share certain risk factors for stroke:

• a family history of stroke
• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol
• smoking
• diabetes
• being overweight
• not exercising

Women also have risk factors unique to their gender:

• Taking birth control pills
• Pregnancy -- Stroke risk increases during a normal pregnancy due to natural changes in the body such as increased blood pressure and stress on the heart.
• Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) -- A combined hormone therapy of progestin and estrogen, to relieve menopausal symptoms increases stroke risk.
• Thick waist and high triglyceride (blood fat) level -- Post-menopausal women with a waist size larger than 35.2 inches and a triglyceride level higher than 128 milligrams per liter may have a five-fold increased risk for stroke.
• Presence of migraine headaches -- Migraines can increase a woman's stroke risk 3-6 times, and most Americans who suffer migraines are women.

To understand and control your particular stroke risk, talk to your doctor.

Sources:

Reuters

National Stroke Association

Extensive research on humans suggests that exercise can have benefits for overall health and cognitive function, particularly later in life. Other research suggest that mental aerobics such as working puzzles or learning new skills can also be beneficial.

Now a new UK study is garnering much attention because it is the first to look in detail at the effect of physical activity and intellectual activity on white matter, the brain's "wiring," as well as on the volumes and shrinkage of gray matter.

Study Details

The researchers analyzed data from a longitudinal aging study that included 691 participants born in 1936. All of the participants had an IQ test at age 11 and completed a questionnaire at a mean age of 69.5 on their level and frequency of physical activity and participation in social or intellectual leisure activities. Three years later the researchers also obtained structural brain images using an MRI.

Study Findings:

• A higher level of physical activity was associated with better measures of white matter structural integrity, larger volume of gray matter, normal-appearing white matter, less atrophy, and fewer white matter lesions.
• The association of physical activity with atrophy, gray matter, and white matter lesion remained significant after adjustment for cofactors such as age, social class and health status.
• No such associations were found for leisure activities.
• Although the study linked physical activity with less brain atrophy overall, male participants had higher levels of atrophy than women. The researchers speculated that this might be the result of the fact that men in general don't live as long as women. Therefore any structural brain changes might be more visible in men than in women at that age.

Commenting on the lack of association of leisure intellectual activities with brain improvements, lead author Alan J. Gow, PhD said, "People who are most likely to do challenging intellectual activities are able to do them, so it might be that the activities themselves aren't protective but the association is driven by the fact that the people who do them are the least likely to be showing declines," he said.

That's not to say that people should stop participating in such activities, as they might benefit the brain in some way and they affect quality of life, provide pleasure, and influence well-being. But getting more physical exercise might be more important when it comes to maintaining structural brain health, said Dr. Gow. While the study does not determine how being physically active influences brain structures, the researchers believe that blood pressure which is affected by exercise capacity might be responsible.

Practical Advice

Based on current research, the message for maintaining a healthy brain through exercise is this:

• Physical exercise to a reasonable degree can have a positive effect on brain physiology and or structures.
• Exercise is probably not like an antibiotic that, taken once, gets rid of an infection. If you want to maintain a healthy brain for your entire life, you have to keep exercising.
• Don’t worry if you haven’t been exercising regularly. It’s never too late to start, but keep in mind that it’s a case of diminishing returns.
• As a general rule of thumb, include aerobic exercise at least three times per week. Aerobic exercise is defined as getting your pulse rate up 20 beats per minute above your baseline (resting) rate for at 20 minutes continuously.

If exercise is contraindicated for you, or you have not been physically active, speak with your doctor before beginning an exercise routine.

Source:

Medscape

Already credited for promoting a healthy cardiovascular system, Spanish researchers now say that the Mediterranean style diet enriched with olive oil may help your bones too.

The Mediterranean diet consists of lots of fish, vegetables, fruits and whole grains. It is rich in healthy fats from fish, olives, and avocados and high in fiber but low in saturated fats.

Study Details

During the two-year study, the researchers examined the effects of three diets on markers of bone health and bone formation among 127 study participants between the age of 55 and 80.

Of the participants, 34 received a low-fat control diet, 51 received a Mediterranean diet enriched with nuts, and 42 received a Mediterranean diet enriched with virgin olive oil.

They found that only the group receiving the Mediterranean diet with olive oil experienced an increase in serum concentration of osteocalcin and other bone formation markers, suggesting a beneficial effect on bone health.

The researchers also discovered differences in calcium levels among the study groups. The subjects taking olive oil had no significant changes in serum calcium but calcium decreased significantly in the other two groups.

Exercise and Bone Health

It’s important to note that the bone-building power of the Mediterranean lifestyle is due to more than just diet; exercise plays a role too.

Another recent study found that engaging in more than two hours of physical activity per week helps pre-menopausal women maintain healthy bones.

Exercise, it appears, inhibits the production of a protein that impedes bone growth (sclerostin) while boosting the activity of another protein (IGF-1) that promotes bone formation.

The study participants that exercised more than two hours per week had significantly lower sclerostin levels and higher IGF-1 levels.

Sources:

Nutraingredients

WebMD

Health Finder

When it comes to preventing type 2 diabetes, studies have shown that a healthy diet and aerobic exercise—like jogging, brisk walking or swimming--can reduce your risk. But what if you have difficulty engaging in or adhering to an aerobic exercise routine?

A new study finds that lifting weights may be a good alternative. Researchers determined that weight training can reduce the risk of diabetes in men up to 34%. However, if you combine weight training and aerobic exercise, they found you can reduce your risk even further—up to 59%.

Finding more ways to stem the rising rates of type 2 diabetes is a growing public health concern as 346 million people worldwide have type 2 diabetes and diabetes-related deaths are expected to double between 2005 and 2030.

In the U.S., older Americans have the highest rates of the disease. Currently 26.9% of people 65 and older have diabetes and another 50% have prediabetes.

Study Details

The study, which was conducted by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the University of Southern Denmark, followed 32,002 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study from 1990 to 2008. Information on how much time the men spent each week on weight training and aerobic exercise came from questionnaires they filled out every two years.

The researchers accounted for other types of physical activity, television viewing, alcohol and coffee intake, smoking, ethnicity, family history of diabetes, and a number of dietary factors.

During the study period, there were 2,278 new cases of diabetes among the men followed.

Men who engaged in even a modest amount of weight training experienced a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes compared to men who did not lift weights. And the benefits increased with longer weight lifting sessions:

• 1 to 59 minutes of weight training reduced the risk of diabetes by 12%
• between 60 and 149 minutes reduced the risk by 25%
• 150 minutes or more reduced diabetes risk by 34%.

The researchers also calculated the benefits of aerobic exercise and found it reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes by 7%, 31%, and 52%, respectively, for the same three categories above.

“This study provides clear evidence that weight training has beneficial effects on diabetes risk over and above aerobic exercise, which are likely to be mediated through increased muscle mass and improved insulin sensitivity,” said senior author Frank Hu of HSPH. “To achieve the best results for diabetes prevention, resistance training can be incorporated with aerobic exercise.”

Further research is needed to confirm the results of the study as well as to analyze whether or not the findings apply to women.

Sources:

Harvard School of Public Health

CDC

The Amish people have remarkably good health and longevity and therefore make good subjects for health studies. For example, the rate of obesity in the Amish community is 4% versus 68% in the general population. Yet the Amish eat basically whatever they want—meat, potatoes, full-fat dairy products, cakes and pies—about 4,000 calories a day for the average person.

There are similar disparities in the rates of other serious health problems like heart disease and cancer, which indicate that the Amish lifestyle may provide some health lessons for the rest of us.

Researchers believe doing things “the old fashioned way” has a lot to do with their excellent health. Their food is raised or grown naturally and minimally processed and without “modern conveniences” like electricity, cars and tractors, Amish people are almost 10 times more physically active than the average non-Amish American.

Most Americans only walk a few thousand steps toward the recommended 10,000 steps a day, but Amish men take an average of 18,000 steps and women take 14,000 steps. And that’s just walking! Imagine farming and maintaining a household with only human or animal power to plow fields, wash clothes, chop wood, and on and on.

When you compare the traditional Amish lifestyle to the rest of the modern world you begin see that technology has eliminated the need for most physical movement, leaving many of us sedentary. As we discussed in another blog post, our desk jobs are killing us.

While we are not suggesting that you give up all modern conveniences, you may want to consider using low-tech, manual modes of travel, household chores and hobbies in your daily routine. Low-tech workouts using your own body weight for resistance, free weights, jump ropes, or resistance bands are also low cost, old school ways to burn calories without joining a gym or using motor powered exercise equipment. Just to give you an idea of the calorie-burning potential of a simpler lifestyle, take a look at these numbers: (approximate calories burned per hour based on a 185 pound person)

• Bicycling, 16-19 mph – 533
• Jumping Rope, moderate pace – 444
• Jumping Jacks – 377
• Working with heavy, non-power tools – 355
• Masonry -- 311
• Weaving cloth -- 311
• Shoveling snow or chopping wood by hand – 266
• Digging, spading dirt or carrying/stacking wood – 222
• Walking or Horseback Riding -- 178

Another benefit of doing things the old fashioned way is that they also tend to be more environmentally friendly. They typically don’t require gas or electricity, just a little elbow grease.

Sources:

PubMed

Food Research and Action Center

Harvard Medical School

Want to increase your endurance when you exercise? Try adding a daily dose of 500 mg of vitamin C to your workout regimen.

That’s what participants in a recent study did to power through their workout with less effort, fatigue and a lower heart rate.

For the study, 20 adults (4 men and 16 women) were randomly assigned to receive 500 mg of vitamin C or a placebo daily for 4 weeks while adhering to a vitamin C and calorie-controlled diet for the duration of the study.

The average age of the participants was 35 with an average BMI that indicated they we obese.

At the start and the end of the study, participants performed 60 minutes of moderate exercise to assess various indicators of physical stamina.

Results

By the end of the study, both groups lost about eight pounds and breathing was about the same for each group. But the vitamin C group had much lower heart rates during exercise compared to the control group. The vitamin C group also reported less fatigue and exertion.

These findings are encouraging as we all know that sticking to an exercise routine is much easier when it doesn’t seem so difficult.

Source:

PubMed

More and more research is finding that exercise and other lifestyle factors can reduce your risk of cancer. Among women, new research found that exercise can reduce your risk of breast cancer by up to 30%. However, weight gain, even in the presence of exercise increased the risk of breast cancer.

We don’t know why exercise is linked with a reduced risk, but it is thought that a reduction in body fat results in less exposure to circulating hormones, growth factors and pro-inflammatory markers, all of which are associated with breast cancer risk, said study authors.

Exercise also improves other mechanisms that may affect cancer risk including enhanced immune response, antioxidant capacity and DNA repair.

Study Details

In the study, any amount of exercise reduced the risk of breast cancer, but women that exercised from 10-19 hours a week had the greatest risk reduction--about 30%.

Furthermore, age didn’t matter, women who exercised before or after menopause had a reduced risk of breast cancer. This is particularly encouraging as breast cancer is more common in post-menopausal women.

The risk reduction was greatest for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, the most common form of breast cancer.

With all the good news about exercise, there was one caveat in the findings. Even among active women, gaining a significant amount of weight, particularly after menopause, increased the risk of breast cancer, negating the beneficial effect of exercise.

Source:

Health Finder

Overweight men are more likely to have low testosterone levels, but they may be reluctant to use testosterone therapy. A new study found that a combination of diet and exercise can boost testosterone levels by almost 50 percent, providing an alternative to hormone replacement therapy.

Study Details

Researchers in Dublin assigned 891 overweight, middle-aged Irish men with pre-diabetes to one of three treatments. One group was put on a low-fat, reduced-calorie diet along with at least 150 minutes of exercise a week; a second group took the diabetes drug metformin; and a third group took a placebo pill.

Among men in the healthy-lifestyle group, the rate of low testosterone levels dropped from 20 percent to 11 percent after a year.

The rate of low testosterone didn't budge in the diabetes-drug group or the placebo group.

"Doctors should first encourage overweight men with low testosterone levels to try to lose weight through diet and exercise before resorting to testosterone therapy to raise their hormone levels," said study co-author Dr. Frances Hayes, a professor at St. Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin.

Multiple Benefits

In addition to improving their testosterone levels, the diet/exercise group also lost an average of 17 pounds.

Losing weight not only reduces the likelihood that pre-diabetes will progress to diabetes, but reduces the risk of many other health problems including cardiovascular disease.

Source:

Medscape

Health Finder

Exercise has many benefits for the body and mind but how the body triggers some of these benefits--like improving our metabolism--is unknown.

Earlier this year, researchers at Harvard Medical School identified a new hormone produced during exercise that helps turn energy-storing white fat into energy-burning brown fat. In doing so, it improved glucose control, insulin levels and led to weight loss.

The discovery has exciting potential for many metabolic health problems including obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

White vs. Brown Fat

White fat--commonly referred to as body fat--accumulates throughout the body but most notably around the hips, thighs, buttocks and midsection. Its purpose is to store fat until it is needed for energy later.

Brown fat is virtually the opposite in that these cells are full of mitochondria that burn fat.

In the Harvard study, the researchers found that exercise, in both mice and humans, stimulates a chain reaction that leads to the production of a previously unknown hormone they named “irisin.”

This hormone makes white fat act like the metabolically active brown fat which burns more calories.

Irisin levels rose by 65% in mice after three weeks of free-wheel running. In humans, 10 weeks of regular endurance exercise doubled irisin levels.

Irisin also improved glucose tolerance and insulin balance, suggesting that it may be helpful in treating diabetes.

Proof Positive

To confirm that irisin was responsible for these benefits, the researchers injected a small amount of irisin into the muscles of sedentary adult mice that were obese and pre-diabetic. After 10 days of treatment, the mice had better blood sugar control and insulin levels and had lost a little weight—all without exercise.

Then the researchers conducted yet another test to prove their theory. They injected antibodies to stop the production of irisin in the mice and then put them through an exercise regimen. After 10 days, there were none of the previous improvements seen with the exercise program.

Irisin Pill?

So does this mean that irisin may be “the ultimate diet pill” giving you a fat-incinerating metabolism without breaking a sweat? We’re still a long way from knowing that for sure. But even if it did help you burn fat, all the other benefits of exercise—including muscle strength, tone and endurance will still require physical effort.

Nonetheless, the irisin discovery clearly has therapeutic potential.

Sources:

Harvard Medical School

Los Angeles Times

The most common forms of breast cancer are fueled by estrogen. This explains why being overweight or obese has been found to increase breast cancer risk, especially for women after menopause. This is because after menopause (when the ovaries stop making estrogen), most of a woman's estrogen comes from fat tissue.

Lose Weight = Lower Risk

Studies have shown that losing just 5% or more of your body weight can reduce your risk for the most common estrogen-sensitive breast cancers by 25-50%.

A new study took the research one step further to understand how weight loss through exercise, diet or both affects estrogen levels in the body.

The researchers randomly assigned 439 women who were overweight or obese to one of four groups. One group engaged in moderate exercise (mostly walking), one group dieted, one group did both and one group did neither. All of the women were between the ages of 50 to 75 with an average age of 58.

Those who dieted or dieted and exercised lost an average of about 10 percent of their weight. In addition, they lowered the levels of several hormones. Exercise alone did not produce much of a change in weight or estrogen.

The greatest effect on weight and estrogen levels was through diet plus exercise.

Other factors related to weight may affect the risk of breast cancer. For example, the risk appears to increase for women who gained weight as an adult but not among those who have been overweight since childhood.

Also, excess fat in the waist area may affect risk more than the same amount of fat in the hips and thighs. Researchers believe that fat cells in various parts of the body have subtle differences that may explain this.

Sources:

Health Finder

American Cancer Society