Frontline: Mediterranean-Style Eating & Breast Cancer; Menopause Symptoms; Gynecologic Surgery
Mediterranean-Style Diet Linked With Lower Breast Cancer Risk
Recent research suggests that adopting a Mediterranean-style eating pattern may lower the risk of breast cancer. A study published July 19, 2016 in the Annals of Internal Medicine concluded that following a Mediterranean-style diet that doesn’t restrict total fat intake and has a high monounsaturated-fat to saturated-fat ratio is associated with a reduced breast cancer risk. In a Mediterranean-style diet, most fats are obtained from olive oil and plant foods—sources of healthy, unsaturated fat—rather than from meat or dairy foods. A Mediterranean-style diet is also high in fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains and includes moderate amounts of dairy foods and red wine. The diet focuses on whole foods and contains little or no refined flour, added sugar, or processed foods.
Several Factors Tied to Timing, Duration of Menopause Symptoms
Researchers have detected four distinct patterns in menopause symptoms and found that certain factors are linked with certain patterns, according to a study published in the July 2016 issue of Menopause: The Journal of the North American Menopause Society. The researchers collected data on more than 14,000 women for an average of 15 years, during which the women transitioned through menopause and reported their symptoms annually. The symptom patterns included: early symptom onset, beginning 11 years before the final menstrual period and declining after menopause; onset of symptoms near the final period with a later decline; early onset with high frequency of symptoms; and persistently low frequency of symptoms. Factors linked with having symptoms for a longer period of time included less education, moderate or heavy alcohol consumption, being African American, and having depression or anxiety. Obese women were more likely to have early symptom onset, and Chinese women had fewer symptoms than other ethnic populations.
Frequency of Gynecologic Surgeries Performed Affects Outcomes
Before you have any type of gynecological surgery, find out how often your prospective surgeon performs the surgery: More is definitely better, according to a report in the July 2016 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Researchers conducted a review of 14 studies with a combined population of more than 741,000 patients to evaluate whether volume of surgeries was related to adverse outcomes. Types of surgery included hysterectomy, myomectomy, endometrial and ovarian cancer), midurethral sling placement, and pelvic reconstruction. Surgeons who performed a procedure once a month or less frequently were defined as low-volume surgeons (LVSs), and those who performed the procedure more than once a month were classified as high-volume surgeons (HVSs). Across the board, HVSs had better outcomes than LVSs, with lower rates of complications, lower mortality rates, and a lower rate of repeat operations needed for mesh sling procedures.
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