Post by 1dell on Aug 6, 2004 9:18:17 GMT -5
Overweight women with low levels of the so-called good cholesterol seem to have a higher risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. That doesn't mean the ``good'' HDL cholesterol, which protects against heart disease, plays an active role in cancer. But it might signal which women harbor excess hormones, called androgens, which are linked to breast cancer but hard to measure. The Norwegian researchers who have come out with this claim cite evidence that androgens can lower HDL levels, arguing that the easier-to-measure cholesterol could help identify women at risk. But that remains an unproven theory, emphasized the cancer society as low HDL occurs in normal-weight women too; yet the Norwegian study found a cancer link only among the overweight.