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American Morning

New Medical Study Finds Excessive Weight Gain During Pregnancy Increases Breast Cancer Chances

Aired April 09, 2002 - 08:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We have some unsettling medical news to share with you this morning. It's normal to gain some weight during pregnancy, but a new medical study released just this morning finds that excessive weight gain, which is considered over 38 pounds during pregnancy, actually increases the chances that these same women will get breast cancer later in life.

CNN's medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now from Atlanta with the details. As if we didn't need to worry about something else during pregnancy.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, yes, one more thing to worry about, Paula.

We all know that excessive weight gain is never a good idea, but it seems to be an especially bad idea during pregnancy. Let's look at the results of the study just out today from Spinlin (ph). They looked at 27,000 women and found that those who gained more than 38 pounds had a 40 percent increased risk of having breast cancer later in life. Now, the people who did this study said that they're not really completely sure why this is true, but what their theory is that woman who gain a lot of weight during pregnancy, other studies have shown, that those women tend not to take it off later in life. They tend to keep it on, even post-menopausally, even after they're older, and many studies have shown that women who are heavy post- menopausally have higher risk of breast cancer.

Now you might wonder, why would being heavy make you at a higher risk for breast cancer. What's the reason there? So we're going to try to explain that. And the reason is that when you have increased fat, you have too much fat, too much weight, that leads to having too much estrogen circulating in your body. Now think of estrogen as being like food for cancer cells. Breast cancer cells love estrogen. So when you've increased the estrogen in your body, you've now increased your weight for breast cancer.

So the bottom line, Paula, is that doctors say that women should not gain any more than 35 pounds during pregnancy -- Paula.

ZAHN: And did the majority of women gain more than that, Elizabeth? I know I did.

COHEN: I think I did, too, actually. I think that the advice has been for quite a while, that women need to gain 35 pounds or less. But I think women are gaining much less weight than they used to. However, what doctors are saying now is that you should really try to take it off, really make an effort to take it off. I know that some women -- you obviously took it off. It took me a while, but I took it off. But many women don't, and it just sort of adds up there, pregnancy after pregnancy.

ZAHN: So I know you said that the problem in this particular study group is that a lot of these women kept a lot of this weight on after the pregnancy. But if they were able to go back to a more normal weight, would that decrease their risk of getting breast cancer?

COHEN: You know what, that's the next study, Paula. That's what they need to figure out, is that if they lose the weight, does it decrease their risk? They think that it would, but they're not completely sure,, because they think with all those high levels of estrogen during pregnancy, plus the high levels of estrogen because you're overweight, they think that it might possibly start some kind of process during pregnancy that you can't reverse, even if you do lose the weight. So They're not completely sure about that.

ZAHN: And any recommendations for what else women should be doing to decrease their risk of breast cancer, keeping their weight in tow?

COHEN: Right, exactly, keep your weight in tow, eat a diet that's high in fruits and vegetables. That seems to be good for fighting breast cancer. Don't have more than one drink a day, but it's also important to say that most cases of breast cancer just happen. There's nothing you can do about it, and that's why it's important for women to get mammograms starting at age 40, and if they have a family history, even younger than that.

ZAHN: Contrary to what some of those later studies have just told us. I think that's a very important message for you to get out there, because it certainly catches cancers earlier on than if you wait.

Thank you so much, Elizabeth Cohen. Have a good day.

COHEN: You, too.

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