British researchers have recently revealed that women who are both longer and heavier at birth are subject to a higher risk of developing breast cancer as adults than other women.

The scientists have published their findings in the September 30 online edition of PLoS Medicine, a peer-reviwed, open-access medical journal.

Author of an editorial that appeared opposite the scientists’ report Doctor Dimitrios Trichopoulos, the Vincent L. Gregory Professor of Cancer Prevention at Harvard University School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology, stated that the results were both thoroughly documented and undeniable.

The research team, which was led by Dr. Isabel dos Santos Silva, a professor of epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, gathered data on over 600,000 women, of which 22,058 had breast cancer.

A number of 32 studies have shown that women who had been longer and heavier at birth had increased chances of developing breast cancer as adults. The analyzed data revealed that a higher by 17.6 ounces birth weight caused the risk of breast cancer to go up by 7 percent.

Birth length and head circumferece have been also linked to the risk of developing the aforementioned type of cancer, the studies suggest. The strongest connection has been reported for birth length. The risk for women whose birth length was over 51 centimeters was reported to be 11.5 in 100, while for those who had been average-sized at birth, only 10 in 100.

Although the findings definitely shed light upon the fact that breast cancer prevention methods should take into account the entire natural history of the medical condition, as Dimitrios Trichopoulos has stated, unfortunately, there is nothing women could do in such cases to lower the risk of their yet unborn daughters for developing the disease.

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine team of researchers has also informed that the results of their studies might explain approximately 5% of all breast cancers.

After lung cancer, breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer worldwide, with an annual death-toll among women estimated at 12,400. In 2005, the disease caused a number of 502,000 deaths worldwide, accounting for 1% of all deaths.

Prevention methods include lower than 24 years maternal age, breastfeeding, plant estrogen intake during adolescence, folic acid intake, maintaining a healthy weight, having a balanced diet, limiting alcohol consumption and avoiding exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke.

As for treatment for breast cancer, the mainstay is currently surgery, often followed by adjuvant hormonal therapy or chemotherapy. The latter entails the use of chemical substances in order to kill cancerous cells. An innovative method used to treat breast cancer is interstitial laser thermotherapy (ILT), which does not require the surgical removal of a tumor, also being minimally invasive, as opposed to both a mastectomy (surgery that removes the affected breast) and a lumpectomy (a procedure that only removes the cancerous tissue in early-stage breast cancer, while preserving the breast).