Study pinpoints ages when women should curb alcohol and weight to lower breast cancer risk
Researchers identified adolescence and early adulthood as key periods for promoting exercise, while the 30s-50s are crucial for preventing weight gain and excess alcohol consumption to reduce breast cancer risk.
A new analysis of the Breast Cancer Now Generations Study, involving more than 110,000 women, shows that major breast-cancer risk factors such as alcohol use, smoking, exercise and body weight change markedly across the lifespan. Adolescents and young adults exhibit the highest levels of physical activity and smoking, while body fat steadily climbs, peaking in the late 60s. Cohorts born between 1960 and 2003 display higher body-mass-index trajectories and earlier peaks in alcohol and tobacco use compared with those born between 1908 and 1959.
Researchers argue that targeting health-promotion messages to these specific age windows—encouraging activity in youth and addressing weight and alcohol in the 30s-50s—could improve prevention efforts. The study was conducted by Imperial College London and The Institute of Cancer Research and funded by Breast Cancer Now. The authors note that such strategies would also benefit broader women's health, given the link between these behaviours and other chronic diseases.
Why it matters
Timing lifestyle interventions to life-stage risk peaks could substantially lower breast cancer rates and improve overall women’s health.
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