Women and Bone Disease: Osteoporosis

Eight million American women have osteoporosis  -- and millions more have low bone mass, whichplaces them in the high-risk category for the disease.

Women's Health Topics

Pregnancy

You'd never give a baby a cocktail. For the same reasons, you shouldn't drink any alcoholic beverages if you'repregnant, if you even think you might be pregnant or if you're breast-feeding. 

Breast Cancer Concerns

Most breast lumps and other changes are not cancer. Among breast conditions for which biopsies are often done, the results show thatsome 80 percent are not cancer. 

Aging Concerns

More than 22 million women in the United States are at risk for  developing osteoporosis -- the crippling bone thinning disease that  is preventable.

Nutrition and Fitness

Folic acid may reduce the risk of certain cancers. During pregnancy, folic acid can be vital to healthy fetal growth. Folic acid also plays an important role in cell division and growth. 

Menopause

The benefits of HRT include relief from Symptoms of menopause,  reduced risk of heart disease, reduced risk of osteoporosis, and 
possible help with Alzheimer's disease. 

Your Breast Protection

Your sigh with relief when you find nothing during a breast self-exam. You celebrate every good mammogram report. You feel free from the clustches of worry with every doctor's declaration that your breasts are clear of cancer.

Then, after a moment's elation, you cross your fingers and pray your luck continues. What else can a woman do?

We know that monthly breast self-exams, combined with regular physician exams and mammograms, offer today's best defense against breast cancer. When teamed with state-of-the-art treatment, these measure can help nip cancer before it rages out of control.

But early detection is just one part of an effective cancer-protection.. Prevention is the other. Many researches show that dietary fat, fiber, antioxidant, alcohol and body-fat distribution have major effect on
the cancer prevention. If we halved our fat consumption and doubled our fiber intake, you could predict up to 50 percent less breast cancer in this country.

The American Cancer Society also reported that the high-fat diets have been linked to breast cancer, as well as cancers of the ulterine lining, colon, prostate and pancreas. Most international comparisions show that the countries that consume the most fat, like the United States, have higher breast cancer rates than countries that eat a very low-fat diet, like Japan.

Dr. Gorbach explains: Women who havn't had children before age 30 faces a slightly higher breast-cancer-risk. That's probably because, without a pregnancy to temporarily dimish estrogen levels, their hormone production continue uninterrupted for years on end. Similarly, women who begin menstruating very young, or reach menopause very late in life, also have slightly higher breast-cancer rates, perhaps because their bodies are exposed to estrogen longer.

Scientists have found that  reducing fats and increasing fiber in the diet causes estrogen levels in the blood to fall. Fruits and vegetables are, of course, loaded with fiber. They're also a source of the antioxidants vitamins. They may prove to be our secret weapon against breast cancer.

The scientists found that breast-cancer patients consumed less nutrient-packed foods like tomato juice, vegetable juice, tomatos, corn, asparagus, strawberries, apples, grapefruit, lemons and limes,
which contain large amount of vitamin A, C, E and beta-carotene.

A unique family of vegetables, crucifers contain a specific class of compounds called indoles. In an animal study at the Institute for Hormone Research, in New York City, scientists discovered that indoles may alter estrogen metabolish, to reduce breast-cancer risk. The indoles may also block cancer-causing chemicals, according to the researchers.

Pear Down Your Risk

You may believe that eating pears and apples can influence your risk of breast cancer. But would you believe that looking like a pear or apple can, too? It has to do with body-fat distribution. people who are apple-shaped are broad in the middle. Their weight is distributed on the so-called upper-body location: abdomen, chest, arms and back. Pears, like their namesakes, carry their weight down low, around the buttocks and thighs. To prevent heart disease, researchers have found that the pear shapes is healthier. And now they're drawing similar conclusion about the breast cancer. new evidence is pointing to the likelihood that the location of fat is as important as, or even more important than, the amount of fat when it comes to breast-cancer risk.The association seemed strongest for women past menopause.

Researchers believe that the location of fat in the body influences estrogen production and metabolism. Apple-shaped women, notes Dr. Schapira, have lower levels of a protein called sex-hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). SHBG binds to estrogen, preventing it from roaming free to act on the breast and other vulnerable tissue (like th uterine lining). Researchers have observed
that breast-cancer patients do indeed have lower levels of SHBG.

How can you tell if you're an apple or a pear? Put a tape measure around your waist (at belly-button level). Then measure around your hips, at their widest point. Divide the waist measurement by the hip measurement. (If your waist is 24 inches and your hips 36, for example, your waist/hip ratio is 0.66.)

According Dr. Schapira's research, the lowest risk is incurred by women whose ratio is less than 0.73. If the ratio is higher than 0.75, you're an "apple" and at higher risk for breast cancer.