Every October, this country celebrates Breast Cancer Awareness Month. That's hardly necessary.
Most women know that, too.
Perhaps women should be made aware of what is probably the single most important controllable risk factor for breast cancer. No, it's not power lines or DDT or toxic waste dumps. Federal government weight specialists define obesity for women as having a body mass index of 27.3 or higher. Many studies have found obesity increases the risk of breast cancer in older women. Obesity greatly raises a woman's risk of getting breast cancer and, because fat obscures the tumor and delays detection, substantially increases the chance that the cancer will be fatal.