A new study has shown that obesity in women can increase the risk of death during early stage breast cancer.
Obese women who haven’t been through menopause and have a form of the disease estrogen receptor-positive (ER-positive) were more likely than other women to die of the disease, according to WebMD.
The women who were obese and ER-positive were 34 percent more likely to die of breast cancer. For women who were post-menopausal, obesity had little effect on death rate, whether they were ER-positive or negative.
"It is a finding which is the exact opposite of what we have expected," said study author Hongchao Pan. Studies before this have found that being overweight was somewhat protective against breast cancer before menopause, however, this study has shown differently.
According to Tech Times a person can be considered obese if their body mass index (BMI) is at or above 30 kg/m2. In a poll taken last year, it was found that 27.2 adults were considered obese.
In a separate survey it was found that one in ten Americans do not really care about the effects of obesity on cancer.
Breast cancer remains the second leading cause of death among women in the United States.