New Research Finds Pregnancy Little Protection Against Breast Cancer Risk

A new study is challenging conventional understanding of the relationship between pregnancy and breast cancer risk, finding an elevated risk of the disease among women under 55 who had given birth, compared to peers who had not.

Previously, medical consensus was that pregnancy and childbirth offered protection against breast cancer. However, “that really comes from what breast cancer looks like for women in their 60s and beyond,” said  a researcher. “We found that it can take more than 20 years for childbirth to become protective for breast cancer, and that before that, breast cancer risk was higher in women who had recently had a child.”

Because breast cancer is more common in older women, with the average age of 62 in the US, most research into disease risk has, to date, focused on that age group, among which pregnancy and childbirth does correlate with a reduced risk. However, among women under 55, that is not the case, the research team found; in this age group, women who had had children were 80% more likely to develop breast cancer five years after giving birth, compared to peers who had not given birth.

Within this age group, risk varied, as well. Women who had given birth before 25 had no elevated risk compared to peers who had never given birth, while risk was higher, compared to peers, for women who had given birth for the first time after age 35.

However, the researcher stresses, “In this age group [under 55], breast cancer is uncommon. The risk of developing breast cancer is still low overall, even if you’ve had a child five years ago.”

The findings are especially pertinent in India, where “breast cancer … is different from that in the West. Here, it is affecting more young women and more than half of them present themselves in the advanced stages,” reported earlier this year. Lifestyle and environmental factors have so far been thought to be behind the comparatively earlier development of the disease.

The new study drew data from 15 studies around the globe that included 889,944 women. It was notable in that, while previous studies have suggested an increased risk in breast cancer in younger women after childbirth, they’ve not taken into consideration other factors that might impact risk, such as breastfeeding or family history of breast cancer, researchers said.

Breast feeding, along with pregnancy and childbirth, has been considered protective against breast cancer, but this study also found no pattern in the data to suggest the two are related.

The goal of the research was not to discourage women from having children, said Nichols. Instead, she hoped it would just be a reminder to women and their doctors not to overlook risks. “We need to recognize that the traditional risk factors for breast cancer do not always operate the same way at younger ages,” she said. “We want women and their doctors to not assume that recently having a child is always protective for breast cancer.”

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                                             FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                                                             https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/                                                                                       FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com 

Early puberty can cause heart diseases

Girls, who menstruate before the age of 12, are 10 per cent more likely to develop cardiovascular diseases than those who attain it at the age of 13 or 14, according to a study. 

Researchers found that those who started menstruating early were at a greater risk of heart diseases later in their life. 

The ideal age for girls to start menstruating is 13. The researchers examined data of more than 5,00,000 middle-aged adults who didn’t have a history of heart disease. 

The heart disease is now emerging as a number one killer among women with one in three deaths attributed to it. 

A senior cardiologist, said, “The age factor during the first monthly cycle is taken into account in heart diseases but along with that obesity and other lifestyle disorders also contribute to cardiovascular diseases.”

“Hence, we can say that the early cycle predisposes them but how they take care of their health and maintain themselves can also work towards preventing the disease,” he added.

Interestingly, women’s heart issues are closely studied only now. 

There was a myth that they would not have heart problems because of the monthly cycle. But that is not the case. 

Reproductive health factors also influence the risk of heart disease in women. 

The history of childbirth and miscarriages are also linked to cardiovascular health,   a senior cardiologist, added, “Women who undergo hysterectomy face the risk of cardiovascular diseases.”

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.    

PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO VIEW MY BLOG-                      
HTTP:GSEASYRECIPES.BLOGSPOT.COM/

FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                  

HTTP://KNEE REPLACEMENT-STICK CLUB.BLOGSPOT.COM/
FOR CROCHET DESIGNS
HTTP://MY CROCHET CREATIONS.BLOGSPOT.COM

Motherhood alters the brain permanently

The changes in a woman's psychology and physiology before and after child-bearing must be factored in for treatment for brain disorders.

Pregnancy and motherhood can permanently alter a woman’s brain and affect how it responds to treatments later in life, scientists say.

The latest findings on hormone therapy and brain function could have implications for the treatment of age-related neurodegenerative disorders in women, researchers said. 

“Our most recent research shows that previous motherhood alters cognition and neuroplasticity in response to hormone therapy, demonstrating that motherhood permanently alters the brain,” said Dr. Liisa Galea from the University of British Columbia. 

A systematic review of the published scientific literature indicates that estradiol-based Hormone therapy (HT) may have more beneficial effects, while estrone-based HTs may have more detrimental effect on cognition and dementia risk in women.

Galea studied how two forms of estrogens, estradiol and estrone, affect neuroplasticity, which is how neural pathways in the brain change in response to various factors. 

Her studies focussed on a specific brain region, called the hippocampus, which has important roles in memory and spatial ability, such as navigational skills. 

Both forms of estrogens increased the production of new cells in a part of the hippocampus called the dentate gyrus in young females.

However, only chronic estradiol, but not chronic estrone, significantly increased the survival of these new neurons, and increased the expression of zif268, a protein involved in neuroplasticity. 

Chronic estradiol, but not chronic estrone, also improved performance of young female rats in a behavioural test called the water maze. 

The water maze is a test of memory and orientation in which rats must find a submerged platform in water that they cannot see; they must instead rely on cues located around them to orient themselves and swim to the platform. 

Rats receiving estradiol-based HT found the platform significantly better that rats receiving estrone-based HT. 

Galea’s previous research had shown that motherhood causes changes in the architecture of connections in the hippocampus, so her team investigated whether the different forms of estrogens could have different effects on rats that had experienced motherhood once (primiparous rats) and on those who had not (nulliparous rats). 

They found that estrone-based HT improved learning in middle—aged nulliparous rats, but impaired learning in primiparous rats of the same age. 

These primiparous rats also showed a reduction in neurogenesis and zif268, a protein involved in neuroplasticity in the hippocampus. 

“Hormones have a profound impact on our mind. Pregnancy and motherhood are life-changing events resulting in marked alterations in the psychology and physiology of a woman. Our results argue that these factors should be taken into account when treating brain disorders in women,” Galea added. 

 THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.






PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO VIEW MY BLOG-
HTTP:GSEASYRECIPES.BLOGSPOT.COM      

FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-

HTTP://KNEE REPLACEMENT-STICK CLUB.BLOGSPOT.COM/

FOR CROCHET DESIGNS