Breast Cancer and Hip Size

Yikes - can it really be true that hip size is a predictor for the risk of getting breast cancer? A new study suggests that it might be.

Scientists from the UK's Southhampton University have shown that women whose mothers have wide and round hips could be seven times more likely to develop breast cancer

It seems that a women's hip size is a marker of her oestrogen production.

Wide, round hips represent markers of high sex hormone concentrations and if your mother has wide hips then you - the daughter - could be at increased risk of breast cancer.

The study looked at the health of over 6,000 Finnish women born from 1934 to 1944 and comparing it with information on their mothers' hip size. The measurement used was the intercristal diameter -- the distance from hip bone to hip bone.

According to the findings, a woman's risk of breast cancer went up by 60 per cent if her mother's hips were more than 30 cm across. The risk increased with hip size and with the length of time the baby was in the womb.

I'm not sure how this fits into the big picture of breast cancer awareness but it's certainly food for thought.