November 29th, 2012
Women who carry mutated forms of breast cancer genes called BRCA 1 and 2 account for at least 5% of breast cancer cases in the U.S. They are also at greater risk of developing ovarian cancer.
A survey suggests the risk in young women may be reduced by reversing symptoms related to the condition called insulin resistance, which is often an underlying cause of PCOS.
An international team of scientists found that women between 18 and 30 who carry BRCA 1 and 2 can significantly reduce their risk of developing breast cancer by losing weight. Research showed that women who lost at least 10 lbs between those ages reduced their risk of cancer by up to 65%. But the survey also produced evidence that gaining 10 lbs in the same age group increased the women’s risk of developing cancer before the age of 40.
Being overweight after the menopause was already known to increase the risk of women of developing the disease. But authors of the new study say it is the first to link the weight of women of reproductive age with cancer.
Researchers from the U.S., Canada and Poland, looked at more than 2,000 women carrying faulty or mutated BRCA1 or 2 breast cancer genes. BRCA 1 and 2 are tumor suppressor genes that, when functioning normally, help repair damage to DNA in a process that also prevents tumor development.
In 1994, researchers discovered that women who carry BRCA 1 or 2 mutations are at higher risk of developing both breast and ovarian cancer than women who do not have these genetic mutations.
The women in the new study were tested for BRCA1 and 2 genes and questioned about their weight at ages 18, 30 and 40. It was found that women carrying the BRCA 1 gene who lost weight saw the greatest benefit. At 18, they had an average weight of 142.5 lbs. By the age of 30, these women had lost a minimum of 10 lbs and an average of 18.6 lbs and experienced a reduction in risk of up to 65%. Weight loss also reduced the risk of cancer for women with the defective breast cancer gene BRCA 2 but not to a significant degree.
On the other hand, gaining weight substantially heightened the risk of breast cancer for BRCA 1 mutation carriers who had borne at least two children. These women increased their risk of being diagnosed with cancer before the age of 40 by 44% if they gained 10 lbs between the ages of 18 and 30.
The study suggests that carrying extra fat around the center of the body could affect ovarian hormones and glucose metabolism, increasing the likelihood of the onset of insulin resistance. This latter condition causes a reduction in insulin receptor sites on cell walls. The lack of sites means that insulin cannot perform its normal role of allowing sufficient blood glucose to pass through those walls to be used as energy. As a result, glucose and insulin levels become unbalanced – often an underlying cause of PCOS.
Excess glucose in the bloodstream ends up being stored as fat, which can result in obesity. The symptoms of insulin resistance can be reversed by weight loss via a balanced, nutritious diet and regular exercise.
But, if left unchecked, these symptoms may also lead to the cluster of cardiovascular diseases called metabolic syndrome or syndrome x. In addition, unbalanced levels of insulin can result in pre-diabetes, a reversible condition which, if neglected, may lead to full-blown type 2 diabetes.
Lead researcher Dr. Steven Narod of the University of Toronto, Canada, wrote: “The results from this study suggest that weight loss in early adult life protects against early-onset BRCA-associated breast cancers.
“Weight gain should also be avoided, particularly among BRCA 1 mutation carriers, who elect to have at least two pregnancies.”
November 20th, 2012
Yesterday we began to explain why liposuction is unlikely to boost your PCOS health, even though it offers the prospect of dramatic weight loss.
Some level of fat is absolutely essential for good health. But many people get into trouble when they have exhausted their body’s ability to store more calories in fat (adipose tissue). We all have a certain threshold to which our fat storage depots can expand. When we get to that point, fat cells become so big that they are no longer able to buffer excess calories and thus cannot protect other tissues from fat accumulation and damage. This is when many of the classical metabolic problems of obesity become apparent, like increased blood fats and elevated blood glucose levels.
When we expend more energy via exercise or reduce the amount of food we ingest through diet, or both, our body draws on extra stores of energy in adipose tissue and this process gradually reduces the size of the individual fat cells. That means fat loss occurs due to an overall reduction in size of fat cells throughout the body, not a reduction in the actual number of fat cells in a specific area like the waist area or thighs.
Liposuction consists of the latter process, where a large number of fat cells are removed from the body. That is, you reduce the number of fat cells but the remaining ones don’t get any smaller or healthier. In fact, the opposite may be true because there is less place to store excess calories than before liposuction, so there is enlargement of those fat cells left behind.
A study investigated the health effects of liposuction of subcutaneous (under the skin) fat in the abdominal region in 15 obese women. The liposuction procedure removed between 30%-45% of the subcutaneous fat in the abdominal region, which was equivalent to approximately 10 kg of fat tissue. This represented a 20% reduction in total fat mass – a very substantive change.
However, with regards to the women’s health, the results were disappointing. Specifically, 12 weeks after the surgery the women did not show improvements in any of the metabolic markers of disease risk – notably insulin sensitivity, which is crucial to improving PCOS and which, when impaired, can lead to diabetes, heart-damaging high blood pressure and elevated blood glucose levels. Nor was there improvement in any other indicators such as CRP, adiponectin, IL-6 and TNF-α.
Thus the conclusion was that, while liposuction may be of benefit for cosmetic reasons, it should not be considered a clinical treatment for obesity, which is often linked to PCOS. In other words, surgically removing fat tissue will not bring about the same health benefits of weight loss as a balanced, nutritious diet and regular exercise, which can greatly improve PCOS health.
September 19th, 2012
Spending more time in the sun could help older women avoid insulin resistance and the cluster of increased risk factors for cardiovascular disease called metabolic syndrome. Both latter conditions are often closely linked with PCOS.
Sun exposure helps the skin make vitamin D, which older people can suffer a deficiency of, due to the aging process. Lack of this vitamin encourages insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, though people seeking to increase vitamin D through exposure have to be careful about limiting their time in the sun because ultra-violet damage can cause skin cancer.
However, the amount of sunlight required to make vitamin D for the body is always less than exposure which results in reddening or burning. So it should be possible to get the benefits of sunlight through small doses without increasing the risk of skin cancer.
For much more information about polycystic ovarian syndrome and how you can better manage or even reverse the symptoms, visit our web site by clicking on:
www.pcos.insulitelabs.com
August 17th, 2012
Internal inflammation is part of the body’s immune system, which triggers a defense response to harmful stimuli inside the body like PCOS symptoms such as insulin resistance and high blood pressure.
But internal inflammation is also damaging because, in the process, it produces C-reactive protein (CRP), which can harm the cardiovascular system with plaque build-up in the arteries.
It’s important to reverse PCOS symptoms which can cause inflammation and a healthy diet is a key weapon. Fortunately, there are many anti-inflammatory foods and over the coming months we will be recommending some to you. For starters, try to eat more cold water fish like salmon, which contain anti-inflammatory fats called omega-3s.
Tip: wild salmon has more of these healthy fats than does farmed salmon. All salmon from Alaska is wild, whereas Atlantic salmon is usually farmed. Herring and sardines are also good sources of omega-3 fats.
For much more information about polycystic ovarian syndrome and how you can better manage or even reverse the symptoms, visit our web site by clicking on:
www.pcos.insulitelabs.com
