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Oh please! Increased skirt size:increased chance or breast cancer

(63 Posts)
Gracesgran Thu 25-Sep-14 07:21:36

Just heard that some body, I didn't hear which, has announced that if women increase a skirt size each decade from their thirties they increase their chance of breast cancer.

Forgive me but I am going to shout. CORRELATION DOES NOT INPLY CAUSATION. Could these bodies please listen to statisticians who would tell them this over and over again.

Ariadne Thu 25-Sep-14 09:37:45

I agree, although some the possible indicators for BC are being over weight, drinking too much etc - the usual indicators for many illnesses. The skirt size indicator, refers to increased girth, I suppose, and that is an indicator in itself for possible heart problems.

The word omitted by the media is "possible". What you say is true, Gracesgran - correlation does not imply causation!

Nonnie Thu 25-Sep-14 09:48:09

Isn't this the same as a week or so ago when they said that your waist should be less than half your height?

It is sad but perhaps the intention is good? There is so much obesity with all the health issues it involves that maybe the message has to be pushed?

I read a mag at the dentist last week which seemed to be referring to a close friend of mine. Not enough Vit D, not enough exercise, overweight makes her more likely to get Type 2 Diabetes, osteoporosis and cancer. She has the first two

KatyK Thu 25-Sep-14 09:49:15

I have had a couple of friends who have died from breast cancer sad Both were slim, non-drinkers. There was also a 'shock horror' type headline in the week stating that you don't need to be overweight to get diabetes. Really? My DH is stick think and has diabetes. Tell us something we don't know.

KatyK Thu 25-Sep-14 09:50:19

stick thin not stick think obviously! blush

sunseeker Thu 25-Sep-14 10:10:59

When I had breast cancer I was size 12, exercised regularly and only drank a glass of wine on very rare occasions. My closest friend died of breast cancer and she would regularly complain that size 10 jeans were too big for her!

FlicketyB Thu 25-Sep-14 10:30:14

I do not think it was a just a correlation. The investigation was of women with breast cancer rather than a measurement of women and a counting of women with breast cancer and they did include provisos that much of the information was based on the respondent's memories of their size and weight up to 40 years previously.

But the connection between high body fat, increased post-menopausal production of oestrogen and breast cancer has been known for a long time

Soutra Thu 25-Sep-14 14:25:45

The correlation between waist measurement and height brings it home to me that I am not overweight, I am under-talll grin

grumppa Thu 25-Sep-14 15:20:47

Read somewhere else today that too much exercise causes tooth decay. So that's all right then.

HollyDaze Thu 25-Sep-14 15:42:38

Well, I suppose we have to die of something - we'd look pretty silly lying in a hospital bed dying of nothing.

FlicketyB Thu 25-Sep-14 16:04:59

All the research is saying is that if you put on weight as you get older you increase your risk of breast cancer, if you put it on very quickly, the risk increases even more.

All this research team have done is 1) repeat what we already know and 2) tried to put it in terms that will attract peoples attention and perhaps make them more aware of the dangers of weight gain.

We do not have to die of something. DM just died quietly in her sleep one night, I think the cause was given as heart attack but essentially all that happened was that sometime during the night her heart stopped beating. She didn't have any medical condition that was overtly fatal. Just some minor problems that nobody dies of.

FlicketyB Thu 25-Sep-14 19:23:02

Here is the link to what the research actually did and said

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29351249

janeainsworth Thu 25-Sep-14 19:47:10

grumppa the idea that too much exercise causes tooth decay is false, but does have its origins in truth.
A colleague attended the athletes at the London Olympics two years ago.
Many of the ones he saw had high levels of decay and erosion, not as a direct result of the exercise, but because of the energy drinks they consume, and other dietary factors.

granjura Thu 25-Sep-14 19:47:24

To be saved- we should all stop living !

absent Thu 25-Sep-14 20:25:26

Your waist should be less than half your height? Blimey, that would "allow" me room to expand by about 5 inches. I'd have to spend most of my waking hours eating to become that globular. Weight gurus do seem to come up with some very silly suggestions.

Ana Thu 25-Sep-14 20:46:48

Show-off...hmm

Ana Thu 25-Sep-14 20:53:57

You'd hardly be 'globular' with a measly extra 5" round your waist, absent!

absent Thu 25-Sep-14 21:48:14

But they do talk a lot of nonsense Ana and if not globular, at least egg-shaped. grin

Ana Thu 25-Sep-14 21:54:08

An egg on legs! grin Yes, I agree that a lot of this statistics-based stuff is just soundbite nonsense.

Flowerofthewest Thu 25-Sep-14 22:06:57

Not a lot of hope for me then sad

thatbags Thu 25-Sep-14 22:17:40

Quotation from the article:

Prof Usha Menon of the Department of Women's Cancer, who led the study, told BBC News: "If skirt size could be confirmed by others as a good predictor of breast cancer risk in older women, this would be a very simple and easy way to monitor weight gain."

That important word "if" is at the start of the prof's sentence. So nothing has been proved at all.

My waist is bigger than it was when I was younger but my weight has been fairly steady since I was fifteen. I think having it's probably to do with general aging. Aging has quite a high correlation with breast cancer too, as it does with all sorts of health troubles.

thatbags Thu 25-Sep-14 22:27:31

Delete "having" in penultimate sentence of my last post.

FlicketyB Fri 26-Sep-14 07:41:38

Yes, I was thinking that the waist measurement should be revised as you get older. Like you Bags, my weight is where it was in my 20s but my waist is quite a bit larger.

I think as you get older your spine contracts in some way, which is why so many old ladies are 'little', not necessarily osteoporosis.

HollyDaze Fri 26-Sep-14 09:22:16

essentially all that happened was that sometime during the night her heart stopped beating. She didn't have any medical condition that was overtly fatal. Just some minor problems that nobody dies of.

So wouldn't cause of death be heart failure?

We do not have to die of something.

My point was, just in case it was missed, we will all die of something sooner or later - unless immortality has been achieved and I failed to hear about it.

HollyDaze Fri 26-Sep-14 10:26:31

Also, when they are putting out 'facts' regarding risks factors and breast cancers, why do they never mention the very environment that the decision-makers have created?

This link is probably best not read by those who are worry-warts!

www.breastcancerfund.org/clear-science/environmental-breast-cancer-links/

and the correlation of chlorinated water and cancer just doens't seem to go away:

thearrowsoftruth.com/studies-show-link-between-chlorinated-water-and-cancer/ (I could have put links to the various studies but this link has most of them that anyone interested can look up for themselves).

Getting cancer of any description isn't as simple as don't do x, y or z.