Issue 130 Item 1 High Fasting Glucose May Flag Increased Cancer Risk

Premenopausal women with high fasting glucose levels were almost three times as likely to develop breast cancer as premenopausal women whose fasting glucose levels were low. The Italian study by Dr. Paola Muti and her colleagues is the first large-scale prospective study to show a link between fasting blood glucose levels and breast cancer.

Reported at a meeting of the Department of Defense breast cancer research program, the investigation also showed that premenopausal women with the highest levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) were three times more likely to develop breast cancer than premenopausal women with the lowest levels of IGF-1.

These associations were not found in postmenopausal women. “This might suggest that metabolic factors are more important in premenopausal women than postmenopausal women (when considering breast cancer risk factors),” said Dr. Muti of the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori in Milan.

Dr. Muti studied blood samples from 10,786 healthy women aged 35-69. The samples were drawn as part of the ORDET Prospective Cohort Study in northern Italy. Premenopausal women made up 60% of the group at enrollment; the women were followed for 5.2 years. During that time, 144 of the women developed breast cancer.

Four matched controls were chosen for each breast cancer patient from members of the cohort who did not develop breast cancer during the follow-up period.

Premenopausal women with the highest levels of fasting glucose levels were 2.76 times more likely to develop breast cancer than premenopausal women with the lowest levels, regardless of their insulin levels.