Was your mother hippy?

[Lani]

Hip size of mothers linked to breast cancer in daughters [Eureka News Service]
PORTLAND, Ore. - In a study of the maternity records of more than 6,000 women, David J.P. Barker, M.D., Ph.D., and Kent Thornburg, Ph.D., of Oregon Health & Science University discovered a strong correlation between the size and shape of a woman's hips and her daughter's risk of breast cancer. Wide, round hips, the researchers postulated, represent markers of high sex hormone concentrations in the mother, which increase her daughter's vulnerability to breast cancer.
A woman's hips are shaped at puberty when the growth of the hip bones is controlled by sex hormones but is also influenced by the level of nutrition. Every woman has a unique sex hormone profile which is established at puberty and persists through her reproductive life. The study's findings show for the first time that the pubertal growth spurt of girls is strongly associated with the risk of breast cancer in their daughters.
The study, carried out with colleagues in Finland and the United Kingdom., is described in an article just published online by the peer-reviewed American Journal of Human Biology. The authors followed up on 6,370 women born in Helsinki from 1934 to 1944 whose mothers' pelvic bones were measured during routine prenatal care. The study found that breast cancer rates were more than three times higher among the women in the cohort, born at or after term, whose mothers had wide hips. They were more than seven times higher if those mothers had already given birth to one or more children.
A woman's vulnerability to breast cancer, the study found, was greater if her mother's "intercristal diameter" - the widest distance between the wing-like structures at the top of the hip bone - was more than 30 centimeters, or 11.8 inches. The risk also was higher if these wing-like structures were round. The breast cancer risk was 2.5 times higher for the daughters of women in whom the widest distance was more than 3 centimeters greater than the distance at the front.
Barker, professor of medicine (cardiovascular medicine) in the OHSU School of Medicine as well as professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of Southampton in the U.K., is internationally known for discovering the relationship between low birth weight and the lifetime risk for coronary heart disease and other medical disorders, which the British Medical Journal has named the Barker Hypothesis. He has published more than 200 papers and written or edited five books about the developmental origins of chronic disease. He was honored in 2005 with the prestigious Danone International Prize for Nutrition for his pioneering research.
The OHSU study published today proposes that breast cancer is initiated in the first trimester of a pregnancy by exposure of the embryo's developing breast tissue to the mother's circulating sex hormones. The primary mammary cord, which gives rise to milk-producing breast lobules, develops in the fetus at 10 weeks. The fetal breast is known to be stimulated by circulating hormones; the intensity of the stimulation is such that half of all newborn babies have breast secretions.
"Our findings support the hypothesis that wide round hips reflect high levels of sex hormone production at puberty, which persist after puberty and adversely affect breast development of the daughters in early gestation," the authors commented. They could only speculate, they said, on the exact nature of this adverse effect but pointed out: "Catechol estrogen, a metabolite or estradiol, is thought to cause chromosomal instability by breaking DNA strands. High catechol estrogen concentrations in the maternal circulation could produce genetic instability in differentiating breast epithelial cells, which would make the breast vulnerable to cancer in later life."
"Epidemiological findings of this kind aren't designed to define precise biological or molecular mechanisms," said Grover Bagby, M.D., deputy director of the OHSU Cancer Institute. "However, for those of us involved in identifying the earliest molecular causes of cancer, these fascinating results define the types of questions we need to ask. This is a wake-up call telling us to pay attention to stem cell populations at the time of birth . a good deal earlier than we might have otherwise done. It is important to consider these cell populations because only by understanding the initial cause can we begin to develop rational strategies to prevent this very common cancer."
The daughters who were the subjects of the study were all born during 1934-1944 at either Helsinki University Central Hospital or City Maternity Hospital, the two maternity hospitals in Finland's capital. The occurrence of breast cancer among them was ascertained from national registers of all hospital admissions and deaths in Finland. Three hundred of them had had breast cancer of whom 48 died from the disease. Their mean age when they were diagnosed was 54.
The findings shed new light on the link between breast cancer and nutrition. "Mothers whose daughters developed breast cancer were of similar height to the other mothers," Barker and Thornburg reported. "This suggests that they had similar nutrition through childhood. Our findings do not therefore indicate that good nutrition through childhood is linked to breast cancer in the next generation. But they do show that the pubertal growth spurt of girls, which reflects the level of nutrition, is strongly associated with the risk of breast cancer in their daughters."
ABSTRACT: A possible link between the pubertal growth of girls and breast cancer in their daughters [American Journal of Human Biology]
One hypothesis for the origins of breast cancer is that it is initiated by exposure of developing breast tissue in utero to maternal sex hormones. The sex hormone profile is established at puberty, when it regulates growth of the pelvic bones. The pubertal growth of girls is characterized by broadening and rounding of the pelvis. The maximal width between their iliac crests, the intercristal width, increases more rapidly than in boys. We hypothesized that higher sex hormone concentrations at puberty produce larger intercristal widths, and these are markers of increased breast cancer risk in the next generation. We followed up 6,370 women who were born in Helsinki during 1934-1944, and whose mothers' pelvic bones were measured during routine antenatal care. Women whose mothers had large intercristal widths had higher rates of breast cancer. In those born at or after 40 weeks gestation, the hazard ratio for breast cancer was 3.7 (95% CI: 2.1-6.6) if their mother's intercristal width was greater than 30 cm. Among women born to multiparous mothers this hazard ratio rose to 7.2 (3.4-15.4). Hazard ratios for breast cancer were also higher in the daughters of mothers with round iliac crests. Pelvic bone measurements which increase similarly in girls and boys at puberty did not predict breast cancer. We conclude that the intercristal width, and the roundness of the iliac crests, are markers of mothers' sex hormones, and postulate that high concentrations cause genetic instability in differentiating breast cells in their daughters in utero.

[RhondaH]

VERY tiny waist, but BIG hips...I'm the same way, though my waist isn't NEAR as small as hers is as she only weighs 98 lbs, but wears a size 10/12 pant.

Rhonda

[madubois63]

Thanks for posting. I love reading these things, but don't put much faith in them...My mother has the most narrowest hips going and yet here I am - cancer survivor. My mother, sister and daughter all have narrow hips and gain weight in the stomach area. I on the other hand, have "Greek hips" aka "breeder hips." I hope this study holds as it did for me in not being accurate. My daughter would be in trouble. I understand that this study was done on women born 60 years ago in another country having different enviromental problems, so I am not so worried.

[Audrey]

I first read this thread as "Was your mother a hippie?" Ha ha. My mother was not a hippie, nor does she have big hips...Interesting findings, though.

[hutchibk]

Nope, very slender hips she had... tall and slender.

[Brenda_D]

Nope, my Mom wasn't "hippy".

[Lani]

as so much disturbing news has been posted.

I believe her2+ breast cancer is a different beast and conclusions and trends pertaining to breast cancer as a whole do not pertain/apply to it.

Hope this put a smile on some faces...

[Brenda_D]

It did make me smile, Lani.

I read so many things that supposedly are indicative of BC, but very few seem to apply to me.

It was good for a laugh, and you're right, we need a little brevity sometimes.

[Joe]

Am I relieved..I went to college in the 70's. I thought you meant Hippie like in flower child.

Regards
Joe

[Chelee]

I couldn't help myself..boy did I get a good laugh out of Joe's post. Never thought of it that way. lol

Chelee

[KellyA]

Good Grief!!!! You gotta stop with these polls!!! You get me everytime- "hippie mother", left-handed, one-eyed vegetarian,.....I'm telling you, if its there I got it!!!!!! Thanks for making me laugh!

Love, Kelly

[saleboat]

I was just dialing my mother, because yes, she has wide hips and this is funny...but I'm afraid that she'll take it too seriously and blame herself. (But at least she'd stop blaming me for taking Acutane!!!)

Jen

[KellyA]

Jen,

Uh oh...don't let your mother meet my mother, I took Accutane too!!!! We'll never hear the end of it!!!! Has anyone heard of bc being caused by not eating your spinach?!?! :-)

Love, Kelly

[newgg]

Will await the "one eyed, one eared, purple people eater" poll. Went in my mind to flower children, music and .....never mind. What a hoot ! Need to get over to the "Tiptoe" thread and get with the modern thong and tail issues and be done with flowers and hippy stuff !!
Love the giggles ! Hugs, Bonnie

[gin-tx]

have never heard that before but my mother and her sisters were all quite hippy. And I inherited the bc.

ginkott1@aol.com

[IRENE FROM TAMPA]

Wow this is funny. I have to say that between being hippy (which I am by the way) and maybe a bit of a hippie in my day also AND following the tales (not tails) of TipToe, I have had such a good laugh.

And to think I almost became that one-eyed vegetarian - whew good thing I gave that one some thought and didn't go for it.

[caya]

Joe - lol, I was reading it the same way - and no, my mother was/is not "hippy". - A slim size 6 -8. I on the other hand have large hips, thanks to my paternal grandmother.
So go "figure" - (pun intended).

all the best
caya

[SoCalGal]

Is there a Jewish girl out there who's mother wasn't hippy? LOL.

[Lani]

BESIDES BEING A LEFT-HANDED, ONE-EYED VEGETARIAN WHO IS PALE FROM NOT GETTING ENOUGH SUNSHINE/VITAMIN D AND WORKING NIGHT SHIFTS!

4 October 2007

Daughters of older mothers face increased risk for breast cancer

MedWire News: Women are more likely to develop breast cancer if they are born to mothers over the age of 30 years, research suggests.

In a large prospective study, Fei Xue (Harvard Medical School Boston, USA) and colleagues report that women born to mothers aged 31-35 years are 17% more likely to develop breast cancer than women born to mothers aged 20 years or younger.

The father's age, however, did not affect the daughter's subsequent risk for breast cancer, leading the researchers to speculate that the effect may be caused by exposure to higher levels of estrogen in the womb.

The researchers used data from the Nurses' Health Study - a large cohort of 121,700 nurses aged between 30 and 55 years who were followed-up with mailed questionnaires between 1976 and 2002. The researchers were able to calculate parental age at birth by subtracting the parent's year of birth from the daughter's year of birth.

The mean maternal age at delivery was 28 years while the mean paternal age at delivery was 31 years.

Women born to mothers aged 21-25, 26-30, 31-35, and 36 years or older had a 8, 12, 17, and 12% increased risk for breast cancer, respectively, compared with those born to mothers aged 20 years or younger.

The researchers note that the association between advanced maternal age and higher incidence of breast cancer was more consistent in firstborn daughters who also had estrogen- and progesterone-positive tumors.

"Our findings add evidence to the hypothesis that intrauterine exposures, especially those related to maternal endogenous sex hormones, may play a role in the etiology of breast cancer," conclude Xue et al in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.



Breast Cancer Res Treat 2007; 104: 331-340

http://www.springerlink.com/content/...4bf54aeb2&pi=9

[tousled1]

My mother wasn't hippy in any sense of the word. And, I do not consider myself hippy either. Very interesting read though