Eating Eggs When Pregnant Affects Breast Cancer In Offspring Terramed Alliance News
This finding by a team of biologists at Boston University is the first to link choline consumption during pregnancy to breast cancer. It also is the first to identify possible choline-related genetic changes that affect breast cancer survival rates.
“We’ve known for a long time that some agents taken by pregnant women, such as diethylstibesterol, have adverse consequences for their daughters,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “But there’s an upside. The emerging science of epigenetics has yielded a breakthrough. For the first time, we’ve learned that we might be able to prevent breast cancer as early as a mother’s pregnancy.”
The researchers made the discovery in rats by studying females whose mothers were fed varying amounts of choline during pregnancy. Different groups of pregnant rats received diets containing standard amounts of choline, no choline at all, or extra choline. Then the researchers treated the female offspring with a chemical that causes cancer of the mammary gland (breast cancer). Although animals in all groups developed mammary cancer, the daughters of mothers that had received extra choline during pregnancy had slow growing tumors while daughters of mothers that had no choline during pregnancy had fast growing tumors.
“Our study provides additional support for the notion that choline is an important nutrient that has to be considered when dietary guidelines are developed,” said Krzysztof Blusztajn, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology at Boston University and the study’s senior researcher. “We hope it will be possible to develop nutritional guidelines for pregnant women that ensure the good health of their offspring well into old age.”
The researchers also found multiple genetic and molecular changes in the rats’ tumors that correlated with survival outcomes. For example, the slow growing tumors in rats had a genetic pattern similar to those seen in breast cancers of women who are considered to have a good prognosis. The fast growing tumors in mice had a pattern of genetic changes similar to those seen in women with a more aggressive disease. The researchers also found evidence that these genetic changes may result from the way that choline affects modifications of the DNA within the mammary gland of fetuses as they develop in the womb.
The National Cancer Institute estimates that there will be more than 184,000 new cases of breast cancer in 2008 and more than 40,000 deaths. Treatments for women suffering from breat cancer range from hormone therapy to surgery. Adapted from materials provided by Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS. ScienceDaily
Terramed Alliance is a non-profit charity organization dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this community and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease. For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us
Terramed Alliance News Moderate Alcohol Consumption Increases Risk of Cancer in Women
The best “treatment” for cancer is to prevent it from occurring. Research is ongoing to evaluate environmental and lifestyle factors that may be associated with an increased incidence of cancer. Identifying such risk factors may allow individuals to modify lifestyle choices in order to reduce their risk of developing cancer.
The Million Women Study in the United Kingdom involved over 1.3 million middle-aged women who responded to a questionnaire regarding sociodemographic and personal information, including alcohol consumption. These women were followed for several years in an effort to determine how reproductive and lifestyle factors affect women’s health.
The current study used the data from just over 1.2 million of the women in the Million Women Study, excluding some women based on pre-existing cancers or because pertinent information was excluded on the questionnaire. About one-quarter of the cohort reported drinking no alcohol. Of the remaining women who reported consuming alcohol, 98% consumed fewer than 21 drinks per week, with the average being one drink per day. (Fewer than three drinks per day is considered low to moderate alcohol consumption.)
The women were followed for an average of 7.2 years, during which 68,775 invasive cancers occurred. Increased alcohol consumption was associated with increased risks of some cancers. With each additional drink consumed per day, the risk of breast cancer increased by 11%, oral cavity/pharynx cancer by 29%, esophageal cancer by 22%, larynx cancer by 44%, liver cancer by 24%, and total cancer by 6%.
The researchers concluded that low to moderate alcohol consumption increases the risk of certain cancers. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2009
Terramed Alliance is a non-profit charity organization dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this community and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease. For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us
Terramed Alliance is a non-profit charity organization dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this community and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease. For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us