Physical activity, heart rate, metabolic profile, and estradiol in premenopausal women.

Purpose: To study whether physical inactive women with a tendency to develop metabolic syndrome have high levels of 17beta-estradiol (E2) of importance for breast cancer risk.

Methods: Two hundred and four healthy women of reproductive age were assessed for self-reported leisure-time physical activity (LPA), resting heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), anthropometry, and serum glucose, lipids, and insulin [Norwegian Energy Balance and Breast Cancer Aspect (EBBA) study]. E2 was measured in daily saliva samples throughout an entire menstrual cycle.

Low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol may signal breast cancer risk: recent findings and new hypotheses.

Increasing bodyweight among women worldwide seems to be associated with a proportional rise in the number of women developing breast cancer. It is of utmost importance to obtain reliable biomarkers that may help clinicians to identify susceptible individuals among the growing population of women with excess adiposity. Our recent studies, reviewed within this article, support that adiposity-related metabolic disorders may represent high-risk phenotypes; specifically, we conclude that a low level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol may be a reliable marker for breast cancer risk among overweight women.