Has Christianity really held women back?
There is a notion sometimes articulated in the press or media that religions, in particular Christianity, has done a lot to hold women back. These critics point to the fact that the Bible talks about plural marriages and men being the lords of their households. Actually, nothing on earth has ever done more to advance the position and status of women and children in the world than Christianity.
If you lived in the Old Testament days, you were definitely living in a man's world--but that was not unique to the Hebrews, it was pretty much the condition of the whole world. In most primitive cultures, women were viewed as property, to be owned by their father until ownership could be transferred (usually in exchange for some loot) to a husband.
Even in our modern world, there are places where women are not allowed out of the house except in the company of a male family member. In many parts of the world, then as now, it was forbidden to educate girls.
Jesus came into a world that was already stacked against females, but He did some pretty radical things.
When teaching His male disciples at the home of Lazarus in Bethany, Lazarus's two sisters had very different reactions. Martha seized upon the traditional role: she started to cook for the men. Mary, on the other hand, lingered with the men to hear Jesus teach. In those days, Jewish women were not permitted to sit and learn with the men; in fact, in some synagogues today women and men sit apart. Martha was embarrassed by her sister's action, because it was considered rude for a female to intrude on the "men folk," but when the matter was brought to Jesus's attention, He defended not traditionalist Martha but radical Mary! He said that sitting among the men and learning from Him was "the better part," that is, a sounder choice.
But educating women was not the end of what Jesus did. When He traveled to the little town at Sychar, He took time to speak to a disreputable woman who was drawing water from a well. She was the first person who officially heard from Jesus that He was the Messiah, and she ran off to tell her friends. (This made her the first evangelist.) A man condescending to speak to a woman was so unheard of at the time, the woman even asked Jesus why He would be talking to her. But it was to this unlikely female that Jesus revealed His mission first.
Again, this was a radical break with tradition—Jesus was talking to women about spiritual things. At a time when women who suffered from gynecological disorders were not supposed to go about in public society, Jesus commented when one reached out to touch His robe. The followers who gathered around Jesus were probably expected Jesus to rebuke the bold but "unclean" woman, but Jesus did the unexpected. He stopped to find out who touched Him and seeing that it was a woman in pain, He stopped to heal this individual, known in the Bible simply as "the woman with the issue of blood."
Sometimes children were included in the crowds that followed Jesus. In those days, children were generally considered fit only to work or be silent. The disciples, rooted in the culture of their day, asked Jesus if they should get the kids crowding around to leave. But Jesus spoke up and said that even the little children should be welcomed to Him.
Paul, sometimes criticized as anti-female, actually continued what Jesus did by writing that there was no status difference between males and females among Christians. Paul taught women, breaking with the Jewish traditions in which he was raised. In fact, when he came to Philippi on the Eastern fringe of Europe, he preached to a women's prayer meeting and attracted the convert Lydia, a Macedonian business woman, who later helped to support the early church.
Scripture says Lydia opened her home as the first church in Europe; tradition says that she opened her home to Luke and supported him while he wrote the Gospel according to Luke. Scripture never rebukes Lydia for running a very successful business.
In fact, when Paul writes his now-famous letter the Romans, that is, the church in Rome, he entrusts it not to a man but to a woman to deliver. Paul even writes about another woman, crediting her with having taught him much.
Much has been made about Paul's writings that women are to keep silent in church (a better word for silent here might be "orderly"—apparently some of Paul's early female converts were a rowdy crew). Paul also writes that in the church, women are not to teach or hold authority over men, but Paul later writes that women are to teach other women and he admits he has learned from females. What Paul really meant was that women should not be in doctrinal authority over men in the church.
Paul was not writing that women were less than men (he wrote the opposite—that gender no longer counted in terms of human value), but rather that there were gender roles in church and also in marriage. It's important to keep in mind that these are roles, not classes or distinctions of what is "better" or "higher." The idea is that men are different than women and our masculine or feminine nature equips us better for particular tasks.
And in terms of evangelizing, preaching the Gospel, and doing good works, women were clearly to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with men. The first evangelist is arguably the woman at the well. The very first individual who saw the risen Jesus Christ was a woman--Mary Magdalene--and she was commanded to go and tell others. The merchant Lydia contributed handsomely to funding missionary journeys that planted some of the world's first churches and indirectly cared for the poor and needy.
Christianity changed the world. In the early church, it was taught (following what Jesus and Paul said) that women and children were not chattel but humans with dignity and value. It opposed the "setting out" of unwanted infants to the elements. (There are stories in ancient Rome of Christians who went out in rowboats to rescue the undesired newborns tossed into the river.) It educated females and accorded them unheard of liberties in terms of being spiritually equal to men.
The early church also opposed the easy divorces possible in many pagan or ancient societies which could leave women penniless and abandoned. The Bible teaches that poor women and children are to be among the very first groups of people that the church should help.
Much of what women have achieved legally and socially today has been the result of Christian influence. In any state where Christianity is a dominant religious force, women and children enjoy the most rights and freedom. That is not the case with many other religions.
HEALTH
HEALTH
Would I Become a Medical Practioner?
Who is a medical practitioner? This is the question which has embraced various facets in the presents-day life. All persons, Acharyas, Auyrvedic doctors, MBBS/MD degree holders, Homoepaths and even some of the unqualified persons prescribing herbs/medicines and Unani Hakims (whether by experience or by qualifications) come under the category of ‘Medical practitioners’. So is the case with Naturopaths who prescribe some natural/green herbs i.e. all to be used in the natural way- some use oils/ointments. The astrological principles provide the base for such persons and the combinations so prescribed some time make it difficult to pronounce whether the native is a medical practicing. Even some of the Yogis and those who are practicing Yogas/teaching yogas also prescribe some sort of medicines.
Astrology has many branches. The main astrological principles have been laid down by sage Prasara in his Prasara Hora and other classical works. We have Jatak-Parijat, Sarvartha Chintamani, Garg’s Hora, Varhamihira’s and so on. One other classic was given by Jaimini-Maharishi Jaimini- known as Jaimini Sutram. Jaimini system, though practiced by few has come us by way of English translation from various person including that of Prof. P.S.Sastri. Here the principles laid down in Jaimini system with regard to ‘medical practioner’ shall be examined:
(i) When the Moon is in a sign owned by Venus which should be Karakamsa Lagna and when this Moon is aspected by Venus, one becomes a Chemist.
(ii) When the Moon in Karakmasa is aspected by Mercurry one may become a medical practioner:
It may be noted that Jaimini system has laid very general principle and in actual practice it may be difficult to put them into practice. Be that as it may, we have to make use of the principles as laid down within the frame-work of Jaimini system. With regard to medical practitioners, in modern times various types of specialization in chemistry and medicine have come to stay. Considering the allocation of various parts of body to the different signs and houses, the following conclusions are possible:
-Preventive Medicine - Lagna, 6th house and 8th house
-Dermatology - Saturn and 8th house
-stomach ailments - 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th house
- Lumbago and its treatment - 7th house and Libra
- Urinary and kidney afflictions-their treatment - 8th house and scorpio
- Orthopedics - 9th house and saggitarus
-Throat, ears and Pharnx- E.N.T specialists - 3rd house and Gemini
-Othalmology -Capricorn aspects by Saturn
-Cardiologist - 7th house and Libra-consider also
the Moon, Mercurry, and Venus
- Radiologists - Aquirus or Scopio-Mars or Saturn
must be associated with Moon and
Mercurry
- Bones specialist - Saturn (under the main principles
of astrology, the sun is also for
bones
- Child specialist -5th houses, the Sun and Jupiter
- Surgeons (all types of surgery) - Mars (some attribute Rahu also)
- Gynecology - Mars and 8th house
Keeping in mind the basic principle that any specialization is provided by the mutual association of the Moon and Mercurry, the scope of bringing experts in the treatment of various parts of the body can be extended as under with reference to planets:
Field of Medical Practioner Planet responsible (broadly)
Including specialisation for this field
- Heart, circulatory system, blood, spleen, - The Sun
thyroid, spine etc.
- Digestive system, tumors, epilepsy, nausea, - The Moon
breasts, uterus.
- Piles, nasal ailments, genitals, muscles - Mars
(sex specialists)
- Respiratory system, lungs, nerves, - Mercurry
Pancreas, parathyroid, brain
- Liver, arteries, hips, diabetes, pancreas - Jupiter
(Pancreas are indicated both for Mercurry
and Jupiter)
- Kidney, ovaries, diphtheria, hair, neck, skin, - Venus
ulcers, veins
- Bones, mineral salts, teeth, knees, feet, gali - Saturn
Bladder, arthritis, all chronic complaints
Since Jamini system of astrology need to be developed/ practiced, those involved in this study and its practice may please mail their views to the editor, ASTROLOGY- THE SOUL OF ALL.
It may be mentioned that- the 1st house of ‘Kala Pursha’ is the head and brain (Self). According to rules of ‘triplicity’ (three houses), 1st, 2nd and 3rd houses represent self. 4th, 5th and 6th houses are attributed to comforts and pleasures of life. 7th, 8th and 9th houses represent sex’ and connected matters. Finally, ‘Karma’ and Dharma’ are assigned to 10th, 11th and 12th (including salvation).
Now, a word about the parts of the body, medical profession/medicine/chemistry etc. as to what other classics authorities say. With regards to distribution of limbs in Jaimini’s pre-natal astrology and Prasara’s natal astrology, it can be said that both agree that Head, face and stomach are signified by 1st, 2nd and 5th houses respectively. On other parts, difference of opinion is as under:
House Jaimini Prasara
3 Throat, ears, phyarnx -Hands
4 Arms -Heart
6 Shanks, Loins -Lions
7 Heart, back -Abdomen
8 Anus, genitals -Genitals
9 Legs -Thighs
10 Eyes -Knees
11
Experiences In Astrology
EXPERIENCES IN ASTROLOGY
While practicing and researching astrology we come across many type of experiences which are typical by nature. Here we will try to discuss some of those typical aspects regarding the health and disease of a person.
The twelve bhavas indicate twelve aspects of life. Whole of our body is also divided into 12 parts- each of which is under the portfolio of each of which is under the portfolio of each bhavas. In this way the 1st house indicated general health, personality appearance etc. along with the head specially.
The 2nd house indicated the throat and the adjacent area. The 3rd house indicates the shoulders. The chest is under the 4th house. The 5th indicates upper portion and the 6th lower part of abdomen. The 7th house is responsible of sex organs, whereas 8th indicates the hip portion, 9th correspondence to the upper part of the legs, 10th the 11th lower part of the legs and 12th indicated the food portion of both the legs.
On the whole the nature of illness or the loss of health is indicated by the 6th house, while for the general health of a person we should concentrate upon the Lagna Bhava and Lagna Lords. We can't expect good health if either of them is weak or influenced by malefic. Leo ascendant with 8th Lord Jupiter in it makes the native prone to migraine or sinus troubles. Mars in the ascendant, which should be other than Aries, Leo, Scorpio or Capricorn, renders in the native head injury, the degree of injury increase or decrease with the influence of malefic or decreases with influence of malefic or benefic aspected respectively on the ascendant. The native become physically strong, energetic and his resistance against diseases becomes very high, whenever the Lagna as well as the lord be well placed, well associated, and strong.
The 8th lord in the 6th house renders bad results as far as health is concerned i.e. Aquarius Lagna and Sun with Mercury in Cancer,' the native has the "Buddhaditya Yoga" in the 6th in spite of the yoga the native does not possess good health. She has faced bad diseases and has gone through operation more than once in her forty years of age.
The illness in regard to upper portion of the abdomen of a native causes whenever malefics influence the 5th house. Rahu or Ketu in the 5th indicates gastric troubles on the native when studying the Palm; the blackish finger the palm or the broker liver troubles.
Mercury being the 6th or 8th lord if associated with the 5th lord or the house. The native suffers servers' headache. The 5th Lord along with Mercury if associated with Saturn the native may suffer form brain Cancer. Example Aries Lagna with Moon in the cancer and Sun, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter in Pieces. Here the 5th lord Sun is deposited along with the 6th lord Mercury and Saturn is associated with Jupiter in own house could not even help the situation.
Mercury in any house deposited in Moon star, the native generally suffers from Jaundice, in this respect I can site many examples such as Lagna in Pisces and Mercury in Taurus in Rahoni at a time the native suffered from Jaundice for not less than two years.
Venus is the Lagna Lord as well as the 6th Lord of Taurus Lagna ; in this case if Venus is deposited in the 12th in own star Bharani or in the 8th in own star Purvasadha makes one prone to sex oriented disease. Here the 6th lord Venus comes in the 8th which venders. Rogakarakatya, moreover the star lord is Venus so the chance of if sex oriented diseases is more.
Saturn if deposited in the Lagna with the same charana (Pada) of same Nakshatra renders the native a death after being bedridden for long time, example Cancer Lagna at 27.39 and Saturn in Cancer in 28 the Lagna as well as the Saturn are in the forth Charana (Pada) of Asiesha. The native suffered from paralysis for eleven long years before her death.
The 6th lord along with another malefic in the Lagna without the deposition or aspect of Lagna Lord, renders typical diseases in typical Organs. If the 6th Lord be Sun the diseases on the head, if it is Moon the diseases will be in the lips, in this way Mars renders in the throat and Mercury in the abdomen, if the aforesaid malefic in the abdomen, if the aforesaid malefic with the 6th lord be Rahu or Ketu the diseases will be in the liver.
Mars or Mercury being the Lagna Lord if become associated with Moon, Rahu or Saturn the native suffers from skin diseases.
In case of the female horoscope and female diseases we must calculate the strength of the 5th & 7th houses. Mars or debilitated Venus in the 5th or 7th renders Gynecological problem. The native gives birth to a child through operation, whenever the 5th house is aspected or associated by Mars, debilitated Rahu, aspected by Mars in the 5th renders childlessness to a female native.
In this way we see that the combination of different planets in different house renders different types of diseases. We will be able to help people more and more by studying and researching on this subject
Vagina Dentata: Facts and Myth Revealed
Vagina Dentata is the Latin for toothed vagina. This term was coined by Freud who stated that the vagina dentata is the unconscious collective fear in every male. However, researchers later found his data to be defective and fabricated case studies. Different cultures had and some still have tales of women with toothed vagina and they have served as precautionary measures of education on the potential dangers in having sex with unknown or strange women. In early civilizations and tribes of small head count, maintaining a good reproductive health had been crucial. Death rates were high due to poor sanitation and epidemics. Rulers wanted to make sure people under them do not bring diseases, specially the sexually transmitted, from outside. Rape cases were common during battles and invasions and the aggressive males might have been made a bit reluctant to rape the unknown.
The Mythology
In many cultures, mouths and vaginas have and overlapping, closely-related symbolism. The South American tribe Yanomamo has the same word for both eat and copulate. Pregnant and satiate are also two words they use a single word for. During the middle ages of Europe, the Christian church believed that witches are capable of growing fangs in their vagina.Beth shenayim was the term Jewish myth used for female genitalia which meant the toothed place.
Vagina Dentata in Popular Culture
In the movie industry, people have used the concept of vagina dentata in the creation of imaginary creatures and science fictions. The popular movie TEETH (2007) brings a story of a high school student who has grown up next to a nuclear power plant which probably caused her to develop teeth in her vagina as a mutation.
Vagina Dentata in Real Life
Dermoid cysts are a rare case that can cause parts of the body that fold in to form another organ, such as the vagina, to grow teeth, hair, fingernails and bones. They contain developmentally mature skin complete with hair follicles and sweat glands. Since it contains mature tissue, a dermoid cyst is normally benign. However, rare cases of malignant dermoid cyst tends to develop squamous cell carcinoma that can turn into an endoderml sinus tumor.Outer layers of embryonic skin give rise to dermoid cysts. According to a doctor's experience, one woman had a dermoid cyst in the pelvic region and it grew teeth. When it ruptured through the wall where her uterus joins vagina teeth were seen. They can also occur in the eyelid. Sometimes the term dermoid cyst is used as a synonym for teratoma regardless of histology and location. These uses are common in gynecology and dermatology.
Periorbital dermoid cysts
Dermoid cysts often appear in young children near the lateral aspect of the eyebrow. These are of rubbery feel . They are either excised or monitored for sudden abnormal growths. The association of dermoid cysts with pregnancy has been increasingly reported.
Here is an example of a folk tale on vaginal dentata.
There was a Rakshasa's daughter who had teeth in her vagina. She used to live mostly as a tigress and kept ten or twelve tigers with her. When she saw a man, she would turn into a pretty girl, seduce him, cut off his penis, eat it herself and give the rest of his body to her tigers.
One day she met seven brothers in the jungle and married the eldest so that she could sleep with them all. After some time she took the eldest boy to where her tigers lived, made him lie with her, cut off his penis, ate it and gave his body to the tigers.
In the same way, she killed six of the brothers till only the youngest was left. When his turn came, the god who helped him sent him a dream. 'If you go with the girl, said the god, make an iron tube, put it into her vagina and break her teeth.
The boy did this, and when the tigers came for his body he climbed into a mango tree and made himself very small. The tigers chased him and the girl became very angry. He cursed her, 'let nothing but your face remain!' And so it was: she became a Chamgedri, which eats, excretes, urinates and copulates through one and the same aperture.
One of the mangoes opened and the boy crept inside. A parrot carried off the mango to a Raja's palace. It dropped it, the fruit broke open, the boy emerged, and after various adventures, he married the Raja's daughter."
Defining Markets
Defining Operating and Reference Markets
Market is their, it is dynamic, changing at fast pace, the challenge lies in understanding this phenomena and matching the pace. Every marketer wants to exceed this pace, but at best we can just match the pace. During my interaction which marketing managers, several brand managers and budding product executives, I have noticed this common thread of thoughts. They ask "is this my market", "are these my competitors" and "where are my customers"? These classic questions are not thrown to superiors or research agencies, but to themselves. For simplicity let us talk about the very nature of this market, it is the pharmaceutical market, simple yet complex, lucid yet perplexed. Let me give you an example, which will help you concur with my observation:
Case 1: This Company was known globally for its gynecology product basket, later it was acquired by a US based firm. In India the company is in contraception management space, along with its product line for fertility. Needless to say, that this firm has a high equity among gynecologists. For years it has been one of the leaders in contraception management. The challenge came when they were about to launch a "novel" product in contraception. This was the first "innovator-product" the company had to launch after a gap of perhaps 5 to 7 years. I could see marketing managers, brand managers scratching heads to figure out "which doctors will prescribe the product" and on top of it "what is the target end-user segment". Price was identified as a key barrier which will impact the product adoption and usage. Off-course they had limited and little understanding of doctor behavior which had changed in past one year with the launch of emergency contraceptive pills.
So we observe a classic problem drawn from my earlier statement on how dynamic a market can be, even if you have a strong-hold, it does not guarantee that the marketer has a thorough understanding of market, knows his operating and reference market, which are supposed to be critical for market place success. Key point: market adaptation is a challenge and with the very nature of industry its adds to this.
A new product launch can change the realm of market, and again a product withdrawal can do the same. The classic example is VIOXX. The product launch defined pain market and its withdrawal re-defined the market again. The latest guidelines from Medical Council of India have the potential to re-shape the market, impacting some segments lightly and others heavily. This may result in companies re-looking into marketing mix and strategy implementation process.
While I have highlighted the challenges, the circumstances which result it those, and how sometimes the very nature of pharmaceutical industry is sometimes responsible for this, what does a marketer do best to define, operate, and defend his position in market. I think the definition of market has moved-on from what it used to be "place here buyers and sellers interact".
The scope of this article is limited to know your market, understand the operating and reference market, and select competitors. Let us know examine a key factor which can help in know our markets. From my several discussions with my peers and brand managers, I figured out components like markets, competitors, consumers and environment are closed linked. You can't define and understand your market without knowing competitors, consumers, and environment. Let us know examine an example which will help us assessing this.
Going back to Case 1: The "novel" contraceptive product (VAGIRING) is an once-a-month vaginal ring. This can be inserted and removed by the end-user herself with guidance from gynecologists for first few months. The product is doing well in US and 5EU. It has a distinctive advantage over traditional oral contraceptive pills of convenience and had a potential to improve compliance. Core to marketing is to draw a distinct emotional benefit, and transform that into a unique positioning and gain sustainable competitive advantage. But for VAGIRING, are the competitors only oral contraceptive pills, or can we select intra-uterine device as well, or are morning-after pills (emergency contraceptive pills) as well. Moving a step further Intra Uterine Device can also be seen as a competitor. Selecting the competitor also forms a starting point of market selection.
Now the classic question is how to select the market? And how to define VAGIRING'S competitors? Here it becomes imperative to know who our customers / end user are. In pharmaceutical industry customers (clinicians) are given more importance when it comes to segmentation and targeting, I am not saying end-user segmentation is not done or ignored, but in terms of relative importance clinicians score high. In VAGIRING'S case the question was which gynecologist segment will prescribe the product? The answers were sometimes straightforward like clinicians who practice in up-town hospitals or who have a premium clientele of patients (please note that VAGIRING is priced at EURO 12). Since, it was a novel product, gynecologists who spent more time counseling patients are also an important category to look for. Another key segment are clinicians who have visited international conferences and have listened to VAGIRING'S attributes, these were the key opinion leaders who have a optimism about the product, but sometimes not sure in which patient type it can be used. The key barrier off-course is vaginal administration and premium price. So, a marketer is clear on which clinician category to include in call-list and pre-launch activities.
One of the key things to note about pharmaceutical market is that segmentation of clinicians and patients are not mutually exclusive. Each of them map into one another. So the next question is where to start from should it be end-user segmentation first and then clinicians or vice-versa. The answer is "it depends on the product". In case of VAGIRING the clinicians experience is a result of end-users experience with the product. So, it becomes vital to draw end user segmentation first and map it to the clinicians segments. Market research and extensive field work have been key in drawing various end-user segments. One important thing to note was because of use of emergency contraceptive pills, its impact was seen on end-user segments as well. Two years ago, when the company started planning for launch and did a similar segmentation exercise the resultant end-user segments were very different. This discussion helps us draw a key inference that segmentation should be periodic and planned exercise, rather than random. This becomes more important before key product launches. If the company had not gone for the fresh segmentation exercise it had an eminent risk of missing the new segments.
So, understanding the end-user, segmenting them is the first step to define your market. We all know that after this targeting is very important, marketers choose the target segments which can give high profitability, have less entry barriers, and can give them a distinct advantage over competitors. In VAGIRING'S case the earlier hypothesis was that since it's a premium product and demands more awareness of body before a woman can use it, and therefore, the target segment can be corporate females, air-hostesses, and girls working in ITES enabled industry. Through hypothesis testing showed that perception towards the product is not impacted by lifestyle and job profile. Identifying the target segment is key to defining operating market, many-a-times target segment can be sum of more than one segments. It is important to map the target segment to the product life cycle planning (PLC). We all know PLC is a function of profitability and time since launch of product. Let us quote few non-pharmaceutical examples to make this discussion interesting.
Case-2: When PEPSI and COKE were launched, there target market was carbonated soft drinks, be it COKE or PEPSI, they became leaders in the carbonated drinks segment and enjoyed profitability for years. If we start drawing a PLC, the profitability worm was north-bound for many years until it began to witness a plateau phase. PEPSI and COKE had to target other segments to keep the profitability worm climbing high, there target was other soft drinks. So we see a shift in operating market definition: from carbonated drinks to soft drinks. What we see now is that they are targeting water as well. Finally we see another operating market shift from soft drinks to water. To leverage on this, both companies have there own packaged drinking water brands as well.
From the above example it is quite evident that definition of operating market and reference market is dynamic and changes with the PLC. For simplicity let us define the term "operating market", in case of VAGIRING the operating market was selected as oral contraceptive pill users who find remembering to take pill every day (and find it a challenge). As soon as a marketer selects this segment as target, he / she is competing against all oral contraceptive pills. So, while I define my operating market, I automatically select my competitors. Please note that competitors in operating market are my direct competitors. Then what is reference market? Reference market when PEPSI and COKE were launched was soft drinks and water. In case of VAGIRING, the reference market is intra-uterine device users, condom users, and couples who don't use any method at all. Reference market comprise of all indirect competitors. From here we have another key learning of understanding and defining operating markets and
Studies Link Obesity and Breast Cancer
In case you needed more of a reason to keep an eye on your weight, recent research has found that, in general, obesity is linked to cancer. For obese women, especially those who have gone through menopause, this means an increased risk of breast cancer. Though experts can't yet explain to us why the link is there, they are working hard to figure it all out.
What we do know is that the higher your Body Mass Index (BMI) the measurement of your weight against your height squared, the more chance you have of developing cancer. This was confirmed by an extensive data review of 140 studies by scientists at the University of Manchester in England earlier this year. Other work had found the same links between cancers and more body fat, and in 2007 a report issued by the American Institute of Cancer Research and the U.K.-based World Cancer Research Fund concluded that body fat is associated with an increased risk for several different types of cancer.
If that wasn't enough a recent study at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, found more than two-thirds of women with stage III locally advanced breast cancer were overweight (32%) or obese (34%). The research also found that a greater number of obese patients were likely to be diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer - a rare and more deadly form of this type of cancer.
The extra weight increases your risks, and brings other problems too. It's harder to spot tumors (or recurrences) early, and women who are overweight or obese are known to avoid checkups altogether. Once a cancer has been spotted, the added weight can cause problems figuring the best chemotherapy dose - plus the more weight the more medicine that must be used, and the more intense any side effects will be.
"We know that women who are overweight at the time of breast cancer diagnosis have a higher risk of recurrence than lean women, but the reasons for this are not clear," says Dr. Jennifer A. Ligibel of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. "Recent evidence suggests that high insulin levels, which are common in overweight women, may be involved in the increased risk of breast cancer recurrence."
Debbie Saslow, director of breast and gynecologic cancer at the American Cancer Society, points out that it's not completely clear what role obesity plays in breast cancer risk. According to ACS numbers, about 182,500 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during 2008. Right now there are almost 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the United States.
In all this doom and gloom, there is some rather encouraging news. Studies have shown that exercise - 30 to 60 minutes of moderate-to-high intensity activity each day - cuts breast cancer risk according to Colleen Doyle, director of nutrition and physical activity at the American Cancer Society. You don't have to go from no workout to a full hour of high intensity activity in one leap - in fact, if you're really out of shape and very sedentary, talk with your doctor first, before you start getting more active.
Once you get the okay, adding activities like walking is a great way to get started. Build your routine, both in time and intensity slowly, over weeks or months, until you are able to do the 30 minutes recommended. Not only will you notice that you're feeling better... stronger and more confident, but you'll be doing one of the best things you can to lower your risk of breast cancer and give yourself many healthy, happy years.