I was watching the BBC News this morning, when I heard about a recent piece of research which claims to provide the strongest link yet between the birth weight and length of a female child and her likelihood of developing breast cancer later in life. It is estimated that 5% of all breast cancers could be explained by birth weight. Just a 0.5 kg (or 1 lb) increase in birth weight was deemed to correspond to a 7% increase in the risk of cancer.
The weird thing about this estimated increase in the risk is that it is of a similar magnitude to the estimate for other more well-known risk factors, such as alcohol consumption.
We can all do a lot while pregnant to give our child the best possible start in life (ie limited alcohol consumption, good diet, no smoking etc), but the dimensions of our child are possibly a little outside the realm of our control. Then combine this with the general upward trend in birth weights and sizes in the first world. Where are we going?
1 comment
Hello Dudara,
It is a great pleasure to visit your nice and interesting blog for the first time.
Best wishes from Brazil:
Geraldo
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