Breast size linked to Type 2 diabetes

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TheStar.com | Health | Study links breast size to Type 2 diabetes

Study links breast size to Type 2 diabetes

Joseph Hall
Health Reporter

Young women with large breasts have a significantly higher chance of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life than those who are less buxom, a Canadian-led study suggests.

Women who wear a D-cup bra at age 20 are almost 60 per cent more likely to develop the ailment than those who wear a smaller A cup at 20 – independent of other body weight factors, the study indicates.

"It isn't just about abdominal obesity, but also the contribution of fat tissue in another place," says Dr. Joel Ray, a St. Michael's Hospital scientist and the lead study author.

Type 2 diabetes most often occurs when the body becomes resistant to the sugar-metabolizing insulin produced in the pancreas.

And obesity, especially fat storage in the abdominal area, has long been pegged as a key contributor to the ailment.

But the study, which appears today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, suggests that fat storage in women's breasts may pose additional and independent diabetes risks. And those risks appear to increase progressively with cup size, Ray says.

"I think there is good background rationale as to why there might be a relationship (between diabetes and breast size)," Diane Finegood, head of diabetes and nutrition at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, said of the study.

Ray says the study is just a preliminary look at the role breast size may play as a diabetes predictor and that further research is needed.

He stresses general obesity, especially abdominal fat, remains by far the major risk factor for Type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes.

Women who reported high body mass indexes plus large breast sizes at age 20 were about 4 times more likely to develop diabetes than those with small breasts and low obesity levels.

Ray says obesity in adolescence often increases breast size and that most of the diabetes risk seen in the study is almost certainly due more to overall weight than cup size.

And obese girls tend to enter puberty earlier, meaning breasts develop at a younger age and often at a more accelerated and pronounced pace. Still, he says, the study of 92,000 women showed those with large breasts and were otherwise thin did exhibit a statistically significant propensity to develop diabetes. The study used data from an ongoing U.S. Nurse's Health Study II, which was begun in 1989.

[cgsmichelle]

Well I was a D cup at age 20 and was not obese. I guess between my breast, PCOS, and family history I did not stand a chance. I have to laugh....and some people think breast are a good thing. LOL

[susique333]

OMG I was doomed from the very beginning too. Who would have thunk?

[w5wjp]

I think this will require some very careful hands on research.......lol

[HollyB]

My risk factor just plummeted.... way, way down.

[sugardumplin]

Interesting article. although i must have been one of the odds that fell through the cracks. i have type 2 and spent my childhood being called "Little TT" "Silverdollar" and heard the rhyme many times "roses are red, violets are black, why is ur chest as flat as your back?" - i still wake up screaming at night- giggles

[sugardumplin]

well i am glad u got that out of your system...lol

[morrisma]

This thread just lends itself to jokes & innuendo.
I'm hoping for more
Mike

[Jan B]

Some bored men probably did the research.

In most cases, big breasts have a big body to go along . . . lose weight, and the weight also comes off the breasts.

There are always exceptions of course.

Ok, you silly bored men . . . . what about Type 1 and blah blah size?!!

[morrisma]

Jan,
I don't think the men were bored DOING the research. Possibly before starting (never know where the BIG ideas come from ) but not during....
Mike

[Jan B]

Jan,
I don't think the men were bored DOING the research. Possibly before starting (never know where the BIG ideas come from ) but not during....
Mike

I stand corrected Mike!

[rzrbks]

cgsmichelle

I guess between my breast

Just out of couriosity, exactly how does this work?

[sugardumplin]

This thread just lends itself to jokes & innuendo.
I'm hoping for more
Mike

mike- u may just get your wish....this thread is cracking me up, i find myself coming back just to see what you all are posting- haha

[Lillie]

No Comment......

[Alice]

Ok, I'm sure there is some study about men and their tummies...

Next study we hear about will be "Big Feet a Danger Sign for Diabetes..."...these research studies are beginning to crack me up!

I just see the "large breast" study a different version of the popular "waist measurement" theory...