Results of a new study find that the birth size of a baby girl may determine their overall risk of developing breast cancer as adults.
According to researchers who analyzed 32 studies of more than 600,000 women, baby girls of an above average weight and length at birth are at an increased risk of breast cancer as adults than are baby girls of a normal height and weight at birth.
The study found that the heavier and longer a baby girl was at birth, the greater her risk of developing breast cancer was when she grew into adulthood.
Also, baby girls with a bigger head circumference than normal were also at an increased risk of breast cancer later in life.
The study, which is published in PLoS Medicine suggests that as many as 5% of breast cancer cases may in some way or form be related to birth weight and size.
“These researchers have documented in unequivocal terms that larger birth size is associated with increased breast cancer risk several decades later,” said Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, the Vincent L. Gregory Professor of Cancer Prevention at Harvard University School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology.
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