Graphics by AJP Song Ji-yoon SEOUL, November 21 (AJP) - Overweight and obesity are the most common drivers of post-menopausal breast cancer in American women — but for Koreans, new evidence suggests the opposite: being underweight may be the greater risk factor.
New data highlight that breast-cancer risk in Korea follows a markedly different biological pathway from that of Western populations, where excess body fat typically fuels tumor development after menopause.
In Korea and Japan, breast-cancer incidence peaks in women’s late 40s — nearly two decades earlier than in the United States — and researchers say this divergence may stem from hormonal patterns unique to lean Asian women entering menopause.
A study led by Kangbuk Samsung Hospital and Seoul Asan Medical Center tracked 4,737 Korean women for seven years and found that underweight participants (BMI
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