PAHO Regional Consultation of the Americas on Diet, Physical Activity and Health

Moderate-intensity physical activity ameliorates the breast cancer risk in diabetic women

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the association between self-reported diabetes and the risk of breast cancer (BC) and its interaction with moderate-intensity physical activity in pre- and postmenopausal Mexican women.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

A population-based case-control study was conducted using 1,000 incident case subjects and 1,074 control subjects. Blood samples and information on health, diet, physical activity, and anthropometric measurements were obtained.

RESULTS

The association between diabetes and BC risk decreased with increasing tertiles of moderate-intensity physical activity (odds ratio [OR] = 4.9 [95% CI 2.3-10.8]; 3.0 [1.3-6.9]; and 1.0 [0.1-9.2], respectively, for each tertile) (test for interaction = 0.04). Compared with the women in the lowest tertiles, increased risk was observed in those premenopausal women with the highest serum C-peptide, IGF-1, and IGF-1 binding protein 3 levels.

CONCLUSIONS

Moderate-intensity physical activity can substantially ameliorate the increased BC risk in diabetic women.

The overlap of overweight and anaemia among women in three countries undergoing the nutrition transition

OBJECTIVE

To compare the odds of anaemia in overweight and obese (OVWT) (body mass index (BMI) > or =25) versus non-overweight (non-OVWT) (BMI<25) women in three countries at different stages of the nutrition transition.

DESIGN

Analysis of cross-sectional data.

SETTING

Nationally representative data from Mexico (1998 National Nutrition Survey), Peru and Egypt (2000 Demographic and Health Surveys) were analyzed.

SUBJECTS

Data from non-pregnant women ages 18-49 years were used.

ANALYSIS

Logistic regression was used to test whether the odds of anaemia differed by BMI category, controlling for sociodemographic factors.

RESULTS

More than half of the women were OVWT in all three countries and the prevalence of OVWT reached 77% in Egypt. Anaemia prevalence was similar across countries (28, 31 and 23% in Egypt, Peru and Mexico respectively). In Egypt, OVWT women had significantly lower odds of anaemia than non-OVWT women (OR=0.78, 95% CI: 0.68, 0.90). Similar results were found in Peru, but the difference was smaller in magnitude (OR=0.83, 95% CI: 0.71, 0.96). In Mexico, there were no differences in the odds of anaemia by BMI group.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings show that the iron needs of OVWT women in developing countries are not necessarily being met. The intakes of other micronutrients might also be insufficient. Diet quality remains an important issue even among women with sufficient energy intakes.