Breast cancer in women may be linked to both smoking and variations in body mass index, according to a recent study conducted by West Virginia University scientist Juhua Luo.
The subjects participated in the government funded study titled the Women’s Health Initiative, which found 3,378 cases of breast cancer within a group of 76,628 women in the experiment examined over 15 years, according to The Huffingtion Post. This is the first time that the relationship between smoking and breast cancer has been compared with various weight groups.
Based on the results, women who smoked and were average-weight or overweight, with body mass indexes below 30, had a greater chance of developing breast cancer than non-smokers. Women ages 10 to 29 had a 16 percent higher risk, while women ages 30 to 49 had a 25 percent higher risk.
Obese women with BMIs of 30 or greater who smoke were not at a higher risk when compared with non-smokers in the same weight index.
At the conclusion of the study, researchers did not come up with a definite cause for the results. However, a probable trigger for obesity is the relationship between estrogen and its production of fat tissue.
Dr. Karen Freund, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Boston University School of Medicine, focuses many of her studies on breast cancer.
Genetics and age have normally been the main risk factors of breast cancer in women, Freund said.
“Increasing age and a family history of breast cancer continue to be the strongest predictors of breast cancer,” Freund said.
Consumption of alcohol also puts people at greater risk.
“Alcohol intake, especially over four drinks per week, has also been shown to increase breast cancer risk in multiple studies,” Freund said. “Obesity is associated with breast cancer, but has a weaker association than the previously mentioned risk factors.”
However, the idea that tobacco usage may trigger malignant cancer cells is new.
“Prior studies have not shown smoking to be associated with breast cancer. The new study provides interesting information but probably requires validation in other samples,” Freund said.
The Women’s Health Initiative did not link obesity to breast cancer.
“The recently reported study using the Women’s Health Initiative found a link between smoking and breast cancer in non-obese women, but non-association in obese women,” Freund said.
For Freund, the bottom line of the study was clear.
“For women at higher risk of breast cancer because of a family history, they should watch their alcohol intake as well as their weight,” she said.
Smoking is not making anyone healthier, Freund said, regardless of its effects on breast cancer.
“If you smoke, quitting smoking is the best thing you can do for your health, because of the benefits to your heart and your lungs, whether or not it will change your breast cancer risk,” Freund said.
“It turns out that the relationship between smoking and breast cancer was not realized until several years ago,” Michael Siegel, a tobacco expert and professor at the School of Public Health, said in a phone interview.
Younger women seem to have an increased chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer, he said.
“The risk is particularly high for younger women. There was some recent research that came out that said second-hand smoke is a cause of breast cancer in pre-menopausal women, as well as active smoking,” Siegel said.
However, some BU students said that the type of addictive personality that smokers possess could cause an overweight lifestyle.
“Usually people who smoke have addiction problems, so food could be one of them,” said Brennah Montague, College of Arts and Sciences freshman.
Other BU students said they would not quit smoking, even though it may be directly linked to breast cancer.
“I’ll stop eventually,” said Marieta Carrero, a College of General Studies freshman. “There’s nothing that’s going to make me quit unless I want to, and I don’t want to right now.”
“I know so many other risks, so what’s the point of quitting because of one? I thoroughly enjoy smoking, and it’s as simple as that. I like it enough to take the good with the bad,” said Jasmyn Welch, a CGS freshman. “People eat chocolate every day even though they know it will make them fat.”
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