Birth Weight and Cancer Risk

[*_Penny_*]

Hi everyone,
I'm just curious. I just read a short article about the risk of cancer being linked to birth weight. It said that baby girls weighing 8.8lb. at birth were four times more likely to get breast cancer before they turned 50, compared to baby girls weighing less that 6.6 lb.s This is due to conditions in the womb , including hormonal changes, that affect you later in life. I was wondering if this held true in this group.
Thanks,
Penny

[Bevie]

Hi Penny, I have heard that too, but it is not the case with me I weighed in at 6lb 4oz. dx at 49 I hope it isn't true as my daughters were both in the 8lb range as were my granddaughters.

[Christine]

Penny
I weighed 6lbs 9oz. at birth, and was dxed w/ BC at age 39-40. I don't think that weight is the only criteria. Mybe there are other risk factors that that can be factored in to make a better prediction, such as age at menses, family hx, or even the mothers hormonal medical hx.
I do know that babies over 10 lbs. at birth are at higher risk for diabetes.
Blood sugar can also play a role in cancer evolution.

Hugs, Christine

[Rozebud]

We did a poll on this on the YSC board a few months ago when this article came out. The majority of us were larger babies. (I was 9.0 lbs). Keep in mind this is only one risk factor, but about 30 women responded, and more than half were more than 8.5 lbs.

[kathleen fagnani]

I weighed in at 4lbs at birth and was dx'd at 50 yrs old.

[susie]

I think my mothers cigarette smoking and resultant low birth weight played a more important role than weight. We were raised in a haze of blue smoke, which many of us were, in the days when their were ashtrays in every house, even those where no one smoked! I was watching an old "To Tell the Truth" gameshow last night and the 'prizes' were cartons of cigarettes! Have you watched the old gameshows? The hosts and panels regularly smoked. I recall seeing Jonny Carson smoke on his show too.

I bring this up because sometimes I think when we start looking at birthweight, ect. we are barking up the wrong tree. How many people that ate carrots last year got cancer? See what I mean? I think that environmental toxins are a big cause that no one seems to want to talk about. How many of us were raised with second-hand smoke? Aireal spraying of trees? DDT? Dirty, polluted lakes and streams, "better lving thru chemistry"? The first generation to eat out of aluminum, tv dinners and other fake, processed foods? Just some 'food' for thought...all my grandparents lived long----80, 82, 92 and 95...hmmm....