Leptin is 'new breast cancer indicator

April 9, 2003

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

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

Recommended Posts