Kathmandu, December 18

Researchers found that post-menopausal women could reduce their risk of facing breast cancer by losing limited amount of weight.

Research published on Tuesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute suggested that risk of cancer could be reduced by losing weight, as per the nbcnews.com.

"What we found was that indeed, women who lost weight and kept it off had a lower risk of breast cancer than women who stayed the same weight," said lead study author Lauren Teras, scientific director for epidemiology research at the American Cancer Society, as quoted by the nbcnews.

Researchers analyzed the data gathered from 10 separate studies that included 180,000 women over the age of 50, who were under observation for nearly a decade. Out of them around 7,000 women were diagnosed with the breast cancer during that time.

Weight of the participant women were measured at the beginning, middle and at the end of the research to find out whether women who lost weight were able to maintain that weight loss. As per the researchers, women who were able to lose weight just 4 to 5 pounds and also maintained the weight loss were found to have lowered risk of breast cancer by 13 percent. It was also found that women who lost around 20 pounds also reduced their risk of breast cancer by a quarter.

The researchers had also majored the other risk factors that can impact obesity and/or breast cancer risk, including physical activity levels and whether the women were on hormone replacement therapy.

However, the study was only able to show an association between weight loss and reduced risk of breast cancer but did not prove cause and effect.

Hamro Doctor