Re: Leptin is 'new breast cancer indicator

April 9, 2003

>As women ate less fat their leptin levels decreased, offering a possible

>reduced chance of contracting breast cancer, say the researchers.

I think the whole thing is really interesting. There are all these links

between " fat " and all sorts of bad stuff -- in the Western diet. In other

cultures, people eat fat and don't seem to get fat or sick. So I'm guessing

that the studies that show this sort of thing are measuring something else

-- the levels of milk (milk hormones may well be a culprit, and they exist

in hamburger a lot too, often made from milk cows), grain fed beef, trans

fats, soy/canola oil? The majority of fat eaten in this country is not very

healthy. But I don't know exactly what causes leptin levels to rise.

People with high leptin levels DO tend to get fat more (as do mice), but my

understanding was that a lot of it was genetic. However, they found that

men with high leptin levels who also got lots of exercise did not get fat.

>But, he says that levels of leptin - which signals to the brain when it

is time to stop >eating - are a sign of a woman's accumulation of fat over

the years and offer an >alternative means of testing for breast cancer risk.

What I have found since I've been eating my " new diet " is that I DO stop

eating a lot sooner and get full sooner. Why? Is it higher leptin levels or

lower? I think a lot of people have an appestat that is just not working --

people eat WAY more than they need, which is odd. Maybe because of the lack

of nutrients in the food, or high sugar/carb, or damaged villi/upper

intestinal issues.

Heidi S

April 9, 2003

Exactly the reason to know where your food comes from. No pollutants in your

food - no pollutants in your body.

Leptin is 'new breast cancer indicator

any feed-back on this one from all you erudite people out there?

TIA

Dedy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many of the most damaging environmental pollutants are damaging precisely

because they are fat soluble and therefore pose long term cumulative

exposure risk.

Breast tissue is primarily composed of fat, connective tissue and glands.

As a result, this tissue is more sensitive to long term pollutant and

radiation exposure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leptin is " new breast cancer indicator "

Monday, April 07, 2003 -- By Health Newswire reporters

LONDON -- http://www.health-news.co.uk/showstory.asp?id=109773

Measuring levels of Leptin - the protein involved in regulating fat

storage - could indicate a woman's risk of contracting breast cancer,

according to US researchers.

A study, published in the Proceedings for the 2003 Annual Meeting of the

American Association for Cancer Research, suggests that assessing leptin

levels may be a more effective means of cancer prognosis than measuring body

mass index and the amount of fat in a woman's diet.

None of the measures for detecting breast cancer are " perfect " , says lead

author Dr Hajek from the University of Texas.

But, he says that levels of leptin - which signals to the brain when it is

time to stop eating - are a sign of a woman's accumulation of fat over the

years and offer an alternative means of testing for breast cancer risk.

" The amount of leptin found in a woman's bloodstream can indicate her

accumulation of fat over the years. Measuring current body weight and fat

intake doesn't offer that kind of perspective, " says Dr Hajek.

The research team looked at 38 postmenopausal Hispanic women in order to

assess how leptin levels fluctuated between those who switched to a

high-fibre, low-fat diet and those who changed to high-fibre diets without

reducing their fat intake.

The researchers discovered that if body weight and body fat together were

taken out of the equation, a correlation remained between leptin and diet.

As women ate less fat their leptin levels decreased, offering a possible

reduced chance of contracting breast cancer, say the researchers.

Source: American Association for Cancer Research

April 9, 2003

First they're using Hispanic women for the study group. Quite a few questions

come to me out of this. How long have they been in the U.S.? How long have

they

been away from their traditional diet? What do they eat here that is

different?

Refined carb increase, hormones in meat. If they use lard is it commercial

hydrogenated and not the homemade lard south of the border? Do they use

vegetable oils or vegetable shortening instead of lard now? Were they ever

living south of the border where many chemicals that are not allowed in the

U.S.(that could store in fat)are used in factories and on crops? Moreso since

NAFTA opened free trade and southern migration for cheap labor and food

production. Did they breast feed any of their children? Breast cancer is

extremely high in women who have never had children and low in women who have

children when younger putting Hispanic women at what should be low risk.

Have an observation too made by a friend to a friend who survived breast

cancer. Told her that all the women she knew who had breast cancer were thin.

Wanita

At 11:53 AM 4/9/03 +0100, you wrote:

>any feed-back on this one from all you erudite people out there?

>TIA

>Dedy

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>Many of the most damaging environmental pollutants are damaging precisely

because they are fat soluble and therefore pose long term cumulative exposure

risk.

>Breast tissue is primarily composed of fat, connective tissue and glands. As

a result, this tissue is more sensitive to long term pollutant and radiation

exposure.

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>Leptin is " new breast cancer indicator "

>Monday, April 07, 2003 -- By Health Newswire reporters

>LONDON --

<http://www.health-news.co.uk/showstory.asp?id=109773>http://www.health-news

..co.uk/showstory.asp?id=109773

>

>Measuring levels of Leptin - the protein involved in regulating fat storage -

could indicate a woman's risk of contracting breast cancer, according to US

researchers.

>

>A study, published in the Proceedings for the 2003 Annual Meeting of the

American Association for Cancer Research, suggests that assessing leptin

levels

may be a more effective means of cancer prognosis than measuring body mass

index and the amount of fat in a woman's diet.

>

>None of the measures for detecting breast cancer are " perfect " , says lead

author Dr Hajek from the University of Texas.

>

>But, he says that levels of leptin - which signals to the brain when it is

time to stop eating - are a sign of a woman's accumulation of fat over the

years and offer an alternative means of testing for breast cancer risk.

>

> " The amount of leptin found in a woman's bloodstream can indicate her

accumulation of fat over the years. Measuring current body weight and fat

intake doesn't offer that kind of perspective, " says Dr Hajek.

>

>The research team looked at 38 postmenopausal Hispanic women in order to

assess how leptin levels fluctuated between those who switched to a

high-fibre,

low-fat diet and those who changed to high-fibre diets without reducing their

fat intake.

>

>The researchers discovered that if body weight and body fat together were

taken out of the equation, a correlation remained between leptin and diet.

>

>As women ate less fat their leptin levels decreased, offering a possible

reduced chance of contracting breast cancer, say the researchers.

>

>Source: American Association for Cancer Research

>

<http://www.health-news.co.uk/>http://www.health-news.co.uk/

>

April 10, 2003

Maybe I'm wrong, but my impression from reading this is that Leptin is just

an easily measurable way of determining if a woman is eating a high fat

diet, under the assumption that a high fat diet increases cancer risk. If

you don't buy that association between fat in the diet and breast cancer

risk, that you really want to be looking at the quality of the fat consumed,

then Leptin isn't of much use.

Kris