Cadmium- risk factor of breast cancer? New Swedish study

A new Swedish study suggests that ingesting higher levels of cadmium, a metal found in fertilizers, may be linked to an increased risk of breast cancer. The results showed that postmenopausal women with a relatively high daily dietary cadmium intake had a 21 percent increased risk of breast cancer than women who had the least amount of cadmium in their diets. This risk increased to 27 percent among women who were lean or normal-weight, the study showed

In a finding that strengthens the link between environmental pollutants and rising rates of breast cancer, new research finds that women whose diets contain higher levels of cadmium are at greater risk of developing breast cancer than those who ingest less of the industrial chemical in their food.

Major source of cadmium

Some of the main sources of cadmium in the diet are bread and other cereals, potatoes, root crops and vegetables.

Cadmium, a heavy metal long identified as a carcinogen, leaches into crops from fertilizers and when rainfall or sewage sludge deposit it onto farmland. Whole grains, potatoes, other vegetables and shellfish are key dietary sources of cadmium, which also becomes airborne as a pollutant when fossil fuels are burned, and is likely inhaled as well as ingested.

Those women who consumed higher amounts of whole grain and vegetables had a lower risk of breast cancer compared to women exposed to dietary cadmium through other foods.

How Cadmium enhance the breast cancer:

The reason for the link may be that cadmium can cause the same effects in the body as the female hormone estrogen, the researchers said. Estrogen fuels the development of some breast cancers.

Still Doubt on   cadmium effects:

Rull, researching cadmium's effects, said that scientists were unsure how best to measure women's exposure to the chemical. That fact, he said, had made it difficult to show whether and how strongly it might drive cancer incidence.

The latest research follows two other studies,that first singled out cadmium as a factor in breast cancer. Those studies measured cadmium in the urine of smaller groups of pre- and post-menopausal women, and found that those who had high cadmium exposures were more than twice as likely to develop breast cancer as those with the smallest exposures.

Future concerns:

The study offers new evidence in a large human population that environmental chemicals that mimic the effects of the female hormone estrogen may contribute to women's risk of certain cancers, including endometrial and breast cancers.

Even this study, while showing a correlation, did not prove cause and effect, experts noted