Young women with larger breasts may be at a higher risk of diabetes in adulthood, a Canadian study suggests.
The study, published in the Jan. 29 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found the larger a woman's bra cup size is at age 20, the greater her risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life.
Well, well, well. Did y'all know that fat women have big boobs and that correlates to a bigger risk of diabetes? And it's your cup size in your younger years that correlates, the bigger your boobs, the higher the risk for diabetes in your later years.
They found the age-adjusted risk of developing Type 2 diabetes was two times higher for a B cup, four times higher for a C cup and five times higher for a D cup or larger than for women with the smallest cup size.
After adjusting for conventional risk factors such as family history, diet and exercise, they found the risk to be 1.3 times higher for women with a B cup at 20 compared to women who wore an A cup. For women with C and D cups, the risk was found to be 1.7 and 1.6 times higher respectively.
I want to know how they decided the initial risk was 5 times higher for a D cup or larger, and then adjusted it down to 1.6 times? Notice that the risk for a C cup is 1.7 times higher, and a D cup is 1.6 times higher when it was originally 4 and 5 times higher, respectively. This makes me think that something is wrong with their data or how they analyzed it.
The study also suggests that women with the largest cup sizes develop diabetes on average about two years earlier, at age 44, than those with the smallest cup size, at 46 years.
That means, according to the article, that since I was a C/D cup in my teens and 20's, I had a 1.6 higher risk of being diagnosed with diabetes in my 40's (since they took out all the other risk factors, such as a family history of diabetes, etc). I'm in my 50's and still not diabetic. Hmmm, does correlation is not causation ring a bell for anyone?
What about fat women who were an A/B cup in their teens/20's and now have bigger boobs? What about fat women who were an A/B cup back then and still are? This just smacks to me of another reason to make women feel bad about their bodies. Not only is fat around your waist going to cause diabetes, now it's big boobs too? How many times does it have to be said "CORRELATION IS NOT CAUSATION!".
He said follow-up research is planned to see if breast reduction surgery causes any change in insulin resistance.
I don't know how they're planning on doing a study for this, since I don't know how many women have breast reductions every year, how many of them have other risk factors for diabetes, or would be willing to participate in a study. I have a feeling the number is too small to be statistically significant.
Doctors question whether large breasts carry particular risks or whether it is another sign of being overweight, a risk factor for the disease.
Dr. Thomas Ransom, an endocrinologist with Halifax's Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre says bra cup sizes are a marker of obesity.
Dr. Ransom has obviously never seen a fat woman with small breasts, has he?
"It's not so much the big breast size of itself, but I think women who are overweight or obese should be concerned. And this is just another marker," he told CBC News. "It sort of correlates and it's really not a surprise."
Yep, it all comes to back to TEH FATZ, as usual.
Well, urgh.
ReplyDeleteThis study isn't even really news. Why are they so focused on boobs? I though we had already established that apple-shaped, or otherwise top-heavy shapes, were correlated with higher instances of adult-onset diabetes?
I'm all for female-oriented medical research, but I thought (probably incorrectly) that men were at slightly higher risk?
Or was some lonely scientist just looking for an excuse to look at 20-year-old women in their skivvies?
Not to mention the fact that cup size is arbitrary. I can personally wear either a 40 B or a 38 C that I know of. I may be able to wear a 42 A and a 36 D for all I know.
ReplyDeleteThey found the age-adjusted risk of developing Type 2 diabetes was two times higher for a B cup, four times higher for a C cup and five times higher for a D cup or larger than for women with the smallest cup size.
ReplyDeleteSo if I was an FF cup (American H cup, I believe) at 20, it's basically a miracle I haven't already dropped dead from Type 2 diabetes, right?
Dr. Thomas Ransom, an endocrinologist with Halifax's Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre says bra cup sizes are a marker of obesity.
No, they're not. I had D cup breasts when I had a BMI of freaking 19.8. And when I was 20 and had those FF cups? My BMI was just barely in the "overweight" category. I'm just big breasted - with a narrow ribcage. I don't think he understands how cup sizes work - a thin woman who has proportionately big breasts may have a bigger cup size than a fat woman with proportionately small breasts. Because the fat woman probably wears a bigger band size, so even if her bust measurement is bigger overall, her cup size may be smaller. Argh.
sage - I don't think they even looked at the actual women, it was all on paper, from the US-based Nurses' Health Study II. So they took information from another study and did their thing with it and came to their conclusions, which I think are probably erroneous (but not having any education in the medical field, what do I know). The thing is, they shouldn't have gone by bra cup size, it's been said that 80% of women are wearing the wrong size bra, so that's going to throw a huge monkey wrench in any statistical analysis done.
ReplyDeleteyellowhammer - before I got correctly fitted, I was wearing 48DD. After correct fitting, 52H. So how do they know those women were wearing the correct size? they don't. Sounds like GIGO to me.
becky - Not to mention that the brand and style of bra you wear can change the cup size you need. Since there is no such thing as universal sizing, we have no way of knowing if a bra is going to fit until we actually try it on. I had Goddess bras, all the same style, all the same size. Black, white, and leopard print. The leopard print is the only one that fits correctly. the white ones - cups were smaller than the leopard print (I measured them to be sure of that). The black ones - the band was smaller (again, I measured them). Now, if there's that much difference between different colors of bras within one brand/style, is it any wonder there's so much difference in sizes between brands and styles? I'm amazed any woman can even find one bra that fits correctly. And then to say that bra cup size has a correlation to risk for diabetes? You can tell it was a man who did the research, he doesn't have a clue about tits, other than he probably thinks they're fun to play with.
I was laughing hysterically, up to this point:
ReplyDeleteHe said follow-up research is planned to see if breast reduction surgery causes any change in insulin resistance.
F*ING insane MORONS!!! ARGH. It took 5 years off my life expectancy just reading this.
Em - that's almost as good as WLS cures insulin resistance. Makes ya want to hit those asshats with a clue by four.
ReplyDeleteDr. Thomas Ransom, an endocrinologist with Halifax's Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre says bra cup sizes are a marker of obesity.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that Dr. Ransom doesn't really understand that cup sizes are relative to band sizes, so a 42D is much larger than a 32D. My band size has changed significantly over the years, but my cup size has always been D/DD.
Well obviously I am not "obese" because I have an A-B cup! At a size 24-26! Woohoo! I'm gonna live forever now!
ReplyDeleteAnd FFS. I wonder if any female doctors were involved in this study at all. Just as most women are not privy to the fine-tuning of male underpants for optimal dangly-bit comfort, most men have no fuckin' clue about bra cup sizes and that they can be 1. arbitrary according to the manufacturer's sizing charts and 2. many women are wearing ill-fitting bras and may have no clue what their actual cup size is (through no fault of their own). And US or British or Euro or east Asian cup sizes? Or did they just go on that rule of "your band size + 4" = A cup, + 5" = B cup" (also crap).
This study is complete bunk. "It sort of correlates"? Wow! Did you know that ice cream sales sort of correlate with drowning deaths? And that crap obesity "news" reporting sort of correlates with fat bitches getting uppity? ;)
peggy - yeah, they know lots about bras....NOT!
ReplyDeleteharpy - I loves me some uppity fat bitches, we rule!
How could those researchers publish the results without exact nubmber?
ReplyDeleteHmm, so the DD boobs (and that's only because that was the biggest bra any of the stores sold) I had when I was 11 were hallmarks of future diabetes? And fatness, even though I was 5'4" and 110lbs?
ReplyDeleteWho knew!
How can they talk about breast size without mentioning breast density? It could not be both breast tissue and breast fat that "supposedly" causes diabetes.
ReplyDeleteWith body shape they are always talking about how the body stores fat in regards to heart issues and diabetes.
William
william - maybe they think all breast tissue is composed only of fat? Or that the bigger the breast, the more fat is stored there? I don't know, but I've seen fat women with large breasts who've lost weight everywhere but their breasts. Does that mean they didn't have much, if any, fat stored there? Studies like this, and the reporting on them, leave so much out that it's hard to see if they are useful or just another tool with which to bash women (and men with their man-boobs).
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteThey are already stating that stomach and upper torso fat causes so diabetes for people. If it is both the breast tissue and fat that causes diabetes then there should be way more female diabetics than male.
I think that you are right that when the truth comes out Fat will be the issue.
William