Friday, January 28, 2011
Hot Flashes Maybe Body’s Natural Protection against Breast Cancer
From Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Hot flashes might not be very much fun for women experiencing the common menopause symptom, but new research has uncovered a possible link indicating hot flashes correlating to reduced risk of breast cancer.
Women who have experienced hot flushes and other symptoms of menopause may have a 50 percent lower risk of developing the most common forms of breast cancer than postmenopausal women who have never had such symptoms, according to a recent study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
The study is the first to examine the relationship between menopausal symptoms and breast cancer risk.
According to senior author Christopher I. Li, M.D., Ph.D., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, hot flashes may be correlated to a “protective effect” because hormones such as estrogen and progesterone play an important role in the development of most breast cancers.
Does all this mean hot flashes are really a blessing in disguise; nature’s way of self-regulating and producing a natural resistance to the development of breast cancer?
“In particular we found that women who experienced more intense hot flushes – the kind that woke them up at night – had a particularly low risk of breast cancer,” he said.
“Since menopausal symptoms occur as hormone levels fluctuate and drop, we hypothesized that women who experienced symptoms such as hot flushes and night sweats – particularly frequent and severe symptoms – might have a lower risk of breast cancer due to decreased estrogen levels,” he said.
Indeed, the researchers found a 40 percent to 60 percent reduction in the risk of invasive ductal and invasive lobular carcinoma – the two most common types of breast cancer – among women who experienced hot flushes and other symptoms.
Read the full article here.
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