According to new research, women who use insulin to treat their diabetes are more likely to have thick breasts, a breast cancer risk factor, than women who use non-insulin medications or lifestyle measures to control their diabetes.
According to Zorana Andersen, Ph.D., an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Southern Denmark in Esbjerg, diabetic women on insulin require their prescription, but also may benefit from additional breast cancer screening. She presented her findings at the tenth European Breast Cancer Conference on March 8. Prior to publication in peer-reviewed medical publications, research presented at medical conferences is often considered preliminary.
Dr. Andersen continues, “We know that diabetes increases the chance of breast cancer.” However, she and the other physicians are unable to explain why this is the case. “The significance of insulin has been questioned,” she says.
Insulin is a “growth-stimulating agent for all body tissues,” according to Dr. Andersen. Consequently, the amount of epithelial or stromal breast tissue may increase, contributing to an overall increase in breast density.
Clarification of Density
Thicker breast tissue has less fatty tissue. Doctors classify breast density into four categories, ranging from almost entirely fatty to extremely dense. The middle of the breasts are composed of thick and fatty tissues. Mammography detection of breast cancer is made more difficult when dense breast tissue, such as tumours, appears white.
The American Cancer Society reports that obesity is frequent. Despite the fact that density often declines with age, this is not always the case. The thickness of a woman’s breasts cannot be assessed solely by size or firmness. She can request that her physician inform her of her breast density following a mammography.
According to professionals like Dr. Andersen, women with the highest breast density (more than 75%) have a 4 to 6 times greater risk of developing breast cancer than those with the lowest breast density (less than 25%).
What are the relationships between insulin, metformin, and diet?
The vast majority of the 5,600 women who participated in the Danish study were approaching menopause. On average, they were all 56 years old. Everyone was a member of the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health Study Group. From 1993 to 2001, they underwent mammograms. Diabetes affected 137 individuals or less than 3% of the population. She discovered that diabetic women were less likely than overweight people to have thick or mixed breasts.
To determine if they had fatty rather than thick breasts, 44 individuals who utilized diet to control their diabetes were compared to 62 individuals who used medication (such as metformin). It was shown that insulin users were roughly twice as likely to have big breasts.
“We cannot deduce from this study whether or not metformin consumption impacts breast density,” she says. She says that additional study is necessary to properly comprehend the links she observed.
Breast cancer is a disease characterise by the growth of malignant (cancer) cells in the breast tissues.
The breast is comprise of lobes and ducts
Each breast contains between fifteen and twenty lobes. Each lobe is composed of many lobules. The culmination of lobules is a plethora of milk-producing bulbs. Thin tubes called ducts link the lobes, lobules, and bulbs.
Each breast contains blood and lymph vessels. Lymph is a nearly colorless, liquid fluid that circulates through vessels. Lymph veins are accountable for carrying lymph between lymph nodes.
Bean-shaped lymph nodes are dispersed throughout the body. They filter lymph and store white blood cells, which strengthen the body’s resistance to sickness and infection. There are lymph nodes in the axilla (under the arm), above the collarbone, and around the breast in the chest region.
Diverse Points of View
On the new study, two endocrinologists and a radiologist collaborated.
Former American Diabetes Association president and Friedman Diabetes Program coordinator at New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital, Gerald Bernstein, MD, anticipated that the study’s conclusion that insulin-treated women had larger breasts was accurate. “This is not surprising given insulin’s function as a growth agent,” he explains.
However, he cautions that this research is preliminary. Depending on the outcomes of future research, he advises that metformin be added to the pharmaceutical regimen for insulin-treated women, “not so much for its glucose advantage as for its countering of the potential effects of insulin.” In the meanwhile, he concurs with Andersen regarding the importance of routine breast screening.
According to Wei Feng, MD, an endocrinologist and assistant clinical professor at City of Hope in Duarte, California, it seems unlikely that the discovery that insulin is associated with increased breast density will receive widespread coverage. She would also like to see additional studies on the effect of metformin on breast density.
According to Debra Monticciolo, MD, a radiology professor at Texas A&M University and vice chair of research and section chief of breast imaging at Baylor Scott & White, it is too early to draw definitive findings.
Dr.Monticciolo, who also leads the Commission on Breast Imaging of the American College of Radiology, adds that if insulin use is determine to be a significant risk factor, radiologists may consider adding it to the list of questions women are asking before their mammogram to identify risk.
Will Consumption of Soy Products Disrupt Hormones?
A: Numerous studies have been undertaken on the optimal diets for long-term health and lifespan. One definition of the Mediterranean diet is a diet consisting primarily of plants. The Mediterranean diet is the most well-known and studied health-promoting diet.
You appear to be consuming a Mediterranean-style diet, but it contains significantly more soy than a traditional Mediterranean diet. Lentils and chickpeas are the most prevalent legumes found in a conventional Mediterranean diet. In traditional Asian societies, however, soy is the most often consumed bean.
There has been a great deal of unsubstantiated media hype regarding soy and its isoflavones (estrogen-like chemicals present in soy). Numerous research has been undertaken in an effort to shed light on the anxieties, as it is uncertain how or why this association developed so widely held.
More than 300 retrospective and prospective studies have been undertaken over the past two decades to examine the association between soy consumption and breast cancer.
Soy consumption reduces the incidence of breast cancer and recurrence in women. Women who consumed more soy foods (such as soy milk, tofu, tempeh, and edamame) had a reduced risk of developing breast cancer compared to those who consumed little or no soy.
Obesity is the most prevalent modifiable risk factor for breast cancer pills and a significant risk factor for several other malignancies. Changing to a plant-based diet, such as the Mediterranean diet with soy, has been demonstrated to prevent or reverse obesity and improve a variety of other long-term health indices. Therefore, using Arimidex 1 mg will not only lessen your risk of developing breast cancer, but it may also help prevent the disease.
What Treatment Options Exist for Breast Cancer?
Breast cancer treatment in numerous ways. The prognosis depends on the type of breast cancer and the amount of its metastasis. Patients with breast cancer generally receive multiple types of treatment.
- A surgical technique used to remove malignant tissue.
- Chemotherapy is the utilization of drugs to cure cancer cells. The medications can taking orally, intravenously, or both.
- Hormone replacement therapy Cancer cells are deprive of the hormones necessary for their development.
- Biological treatment. Assists the immune system in combating cancer cells and mitigating treatment-related adverse effects.
- Radiation therapy. Similar to X-rays, high-energy rays are utilize to destroy cancer cells.
Typically, a multidisciplinary group of doctors treats breast cancer. Surgeons are medical professionals who perform surgical treatments. Medical oncologists are cancer doctors who administer the 1 mg Anastrozole tablet to patients. Radiation oncologists are cancer experts who treat patients with radiation.
After skin cancer, breast cancer is the second most frequent malignancy among women. Mammograms can detect breast cancer in its earliest stages, possibly before it has progressed. Use the links on this page to learn more about, among other topics, breast cancer prevention, screening, treatment, statistics, research, and clinical trials.
