Breast cancer is one of the most well-known cancers globally, and researchers suggest that by 2040 the deaths due to this disease will touch a million. Several factors can cause breast cancer, and obesity remains the primary reason. Even obesity also has the potential to cause other major health issues like type 2 diabetes, further, it also has a strong connection with breast cancer. Let’s dive deeper into this blog to know more about the connection between obesity and breast cancer.
What is breast cancer?
Breast cancer is one among the many cancers that usually develop in the individual’s breast cells. Typically it develops in the milk ducts, which is responsible for producing milk. The common causes of breast cancer include family history, age, hormone replacement therapy, alcohol intake, and obesity.
What is obesity?
When compared to people with healthy weight, obese individuals are more prone to many diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and certain types of cancers, notably certain risk diseases among which can potentially result in death.
BMI (body mass index) is the common method used to find obesity. You can calculate your BMI by dividing your weight by your actual height. BMI gives a precise measure of obesity when compared with weight alone, and for most individuals it is the best way to indicate body fatness.
Further, the obesity symptoms include excessive body fat leading to a high BMI, feeling difficulty performing physical activities such as walking or climbing stairs, and health problems like breathlessness, fatigue, or joint pain. Obesity can potentially worsen certain conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.
Does obesity trigger breast cancer risks?
According to the studies, women who are in the post-menopausal phase with obesity are at high risk of developing breast cancer, so it’s better to get breast cancer treatment in Coimbatore to avoid further complications. Obesity triggers breast cancer among women in various ways like:
– Hormonal changes:
Fat cells or adipose tissue will produce estrogen, a hormone that is responsible for the development and growth of breast cancer, like estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. Among obese women, the production of estrogen will be high due to the increased fat tissue, which promotes the growth of breast cancer cells.
– Insulin resistance:
Certain types of obesity have a strong connection with insulin resistance, in this condition body’s cells will show a low response to insulin. Insulin resistance results in higher levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 in the blood, which will trigger the cancer cell’s growth, like breast cancer cells.
– Chronic inflammation:
Obesity is characterized by persistent low-grade inflammation, with more number of inflammatory molecules in the bloodstream. Persistent inflammation will give space to tumor cell development, including breast cancer.
– Adipokine levels:
Typically, adipose tissue produces certain bioactive molecules known as adipokines, which have several effects on the body, like swelling, metabolism, and cell growth. Balancing adipokine becomes a challenging task among obese women.
– Changes in immune function:
Your immune system function will be changed when you are obese, resulting in changes in immune responses that may trigger cancer growth. For instance, the immune system is connected with impaired immune surveillance, which lets cancer cells evade diagnosing and elimination by the immune system.
– Lifestyle:
Obesity has a strong connection with unhealthy lifestyles like improper diet, lack of exercise, and binge alcohol consumption, which also remain a risk factor for breast cancer. These lifestyle factors will disturb obesity and surge the risk of breast cancer.
What are the complications faced by obese women in undergoing breast cancer surgery?
The complications faced by obese women when undergoing breast cancer surgery is due to their overweight. Further, other complications include:
– Surgical complications:
When you are obese, the surgical complications are higher, like wound infections, late healing of wounds, and wound reopening. The additional number of adipose tissue present in obese women can technically disturb surgical procedures, resulting in longer operative times.
– Anesthesia-related complications:
Obesity will also disturb anesthesia-related complications, like respiratory complications, and cardiovascular issues, and pose challenges in administering anesthesia due to body posture. When managing anesthesia in obese women, special care is required because it can create challenges for the anesthesia team.
What are the treatment options available to treat breast cancer among obese women?
The treatment options for breast cancer are:
– Surgery:
The better way to treat early signs of breast cancer is surgery, either it will be breast-conserving surgery or mastectomy. When performing surgery for obese women, certain factors will be taken into account like increased adipose tissue, which will impact the technical aspect of the procedure.
– Radiation therapy:
Post breast-conserving surgery, the radiation therapy will be used to minimize the risk of local recurrence. When planning for radiation therapy in obese women, certain factors should be taken into account like adipose tissue distribution to get prompt delivery of radiation.
– Chemotherapy:
Doctors will suggest chemotherapy for certain patients with breast cancer, notably for individuals with aggressive or advanced disease. Chemotherapy dosing and drug metabolism will be affected by obesity. Oncologists will adjust the chemotherapy dosage based on factors like body surface area or ideal body weight. Consider getting chemotherapy from the best cancer doctor in Coimbatore to get the desired outcomes.
– Hormone therapy:
Hormone therapy or endocrine therapy is used to treat hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. However, hormone levels and metabolism will be affected by obesity, which will disturb the effectiveness of hormone therapy.
Final thoughts:
In conclusion, we can say that lifestyle changes, managing an ideal weight, a balanced diet, and consistent exercise can highly support breast cancer treatment. So try to be at an ideal weight by exercising daily, avoiding a sedentary lifestyle, concentrating on portion control, and limiting your calorie intake.
