Symptoms of Breast Cancer - Image Health-Beauty-Care.org

Insulin Resistance Syndrome, which is also known as Metabolic Syndrome, or Syndrome X, has now been linked to the development of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

The syndrome includes:

– Central obesity (an apple shape or a large waistline), where one’s fat is localized around the middle
– High blood pressure
– High triglycerides
– Low HDL-cholesterol
– Insulin resistance (the body can’t properly control blood sugar levels)

The diagnosis of metabolic syndrome is made if three or more of these factors occur.

Exercise, weight loss, and nutrition changes can reduce the risks of metabolic syndrome and the likelihood of getting type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease.

Researchers now suspect that high levels of insulin (hyperinsulinemia) influence the risk for breast cancer by affecting interrelated hormones, such as insulin, oestrogen, cytokines and growth factors.

According to a news release from the American Association for Cancer Research:

“This study suggests that having the metabolic syndrome itself or some of its components may increase a woman’’s risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. However, much more work is needed to understand the role of these metabolic factors and their interplay with better established breast cancer factors, such as reproductive and hormonal factors,” said Dr. Geoffrey C. Kabat, senior epidemiologist in the department of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York.”

and, Kabat also stated:

“women who had the metabolic syndrome during the three to five years prior to breast cancer diagnosis had roughly a doubling of risk.”

Symptoms of Breast Cancer