Fight obesity before it happens as diets don't cut breast cancer risk, experts say

Scientists urge obesity prevention after study finds there is no change in breast cancer risk for overweight women who lose weight

Scientists are calling for greater action to prevent obesity after a major study established that overweight and obese women run an increased risk of breast cancer that is not diminished by weight loss.

The study of more than 67,000 women in the United States, who were followed for a median of 13 years, confirms that excess weight is a real risk for breast cancer after the menopause. The paper, published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), highlights that two-thirds of women in the US, as in the UK, are either overweight or obese and therefore running a raised risk of breast cancer.