Friday, May 17, 2013

Breast Study on Twins

Breast feeding, daily moisturizing and hormone replacement therapy can make a woman's breasts appear more beautiful, but smoking, drinking alcohol and having multiple pregnancies can take an aesthetic toll, according to researchers. 

A study of identical twins published Tuesday in theAesthetic Surgery Journal, titled "Determinants of Breast Appearance and Aging in Twins," shows environmental factors play a key role in how a woman's breasts age.

Other factors like higher body mass index (BMI) and larger bra and cup sizes also contribute to accelerated breast aging, according to the study.

An estimated 316,848 women had breast augmentations and 127,054 had breast lifts performed in 2011, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

Now, women can identify lifestyle behaviors that can slow the aging process to avoid surgical intervention, according to the study, which was funded by a grant from the Aesthetic Surgery Education and Research Foundation.

For the last three years, plastic surgeon Hooman T. Soltanian of University Hospitals Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, studied 161 pairs of twins.

"It's very rare that both twins have been through the same exact environmental factors throughout life," he said.  "The idea was that they have the same [breasts] from a genetic standpoint.  If we see a difference, it's more likely to be environmental factors."

Soltanian collected data from consenting women between the ages of 25 and 74 at the annual Twins Days Festival in Twinsberg, Ohio.  The average age of the study's participants was 45.5 years old.

"The twins come from all over the country for a weekend to have fun and celebrate," he said.  "We have been using that opportunity to study their breasts.  It's not a longitudinal study, but a cross-sectional study."

The study had two parts.  First, each set of twins was given a questionnaire on lifestyle habits, such as smoking, drinking, number of pregnancies, use of a bra, stress at work, sports, hormone replacement therapy, moisturizing and exposure to the sun.  Each twin answered independently.

Then, photos of the twins' breasts were taken "in a secluded area by professionals."  Those photos were "subjectively evaluated by independent reviewers."

Soltanian acknowledged there is "no objective measurement" for what makes a breast "beautiful."  But researchers looked for skin tone, droopiness, shape and areola size.

Moisturizing seemed an "obvious" advantage on a breast's appearance, showing fewer wrinkles, according to Soltanian.

Those who received hormone replacement therapy after menopause had more attractive breast shape, size, projection, areolar shape and areolar size.

The study seemed to refute myths about the negative effects of nursing a baby, findings that even surprised Soltanian.  Even though the size and shape of the areola had suffered, the skin quality was better in women who breast fed.

"All these twins did not breast-feed without being pregnant and pregnancy has a negative effect on breast appearance," he said.  "My explanation is that women who breast fed have a different hormonal milieu -- sort of like internal hormone replacement.  So even though those were disadvantages, they gained some benefit."

Soltanian, who does reconstructive surgeries for women after breast cancer, said this twin research could be expanded to longitudinal studies that look for environmental influences when one twin has cancer and the other doesn't.

As for the study's importance, he said, "It's obvious to me that breast appearance and breast health as a whole are a major part of female health."
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio
 
 

Couch-Potato Kids

Lack of exercise and obesity are the top two health concerns for U.S. children, according to adults who took part in a newly released national survey. 
The respondents were asked to identify the 10 biggest health concerns for children in their communities, and 39 percent said it was lack of exercise, 38 percent said obesity and 34 percent said smoking and tobacco use.
The remaining top concerns listed in the poll from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital were: drug abuse (33 percent), bullying (29 percent), stress (27 percent), alcohol abuse (23 percent), teen pregnancy (23 percent), Internet safety (22 percent) and child abuse and neglect (20 percent).
 
"Childhood obesity remains a top concern, and adults know it is certainly linked to lack of exercise," poll director Dr. Matthew Davis, associate professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and associate professor of public policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, said in a university news release.
 
"The strong perception that lack of exercise is a threat to children's health may reflect effective recent public health messages from programs such as First Lady Michelle Obama's 'Let's Move' campaign," he suggested. "But exercise offers many more benefits other than weight loss or preventing obesity -- such as better attention and learning in school and improved sense of well-being."
 
The poll's results varied based on respondents' race and ethnicity. Hispanic adults were more likely to rate obesity as a greater risk (44 percent) than lack of exercise (38 percent), and also rated drug abuse higher than smoking and tobacco use.
 
Black adults felt that smoking and tobacco use was the most serious health concern for children (43 percent). They also ranked racial inequality seventh on the list and gun-related injuries ninth.
 
Compared to whites, black and Hispanic adults ranked sexually transmitted diseases as a greater health concern for children.
 
"The strong connection of many of the top 10 child health concerns to health behaviors among children and adolescents underscores the importance of public programs and communication initiatives -- for example, those designed to prevent drug abuse, tobacco use, alcohol abuse and teen pregnancy," Davis said.
 
"Child health varies across communities, and these results emphasize a need for local programs that respect and address community-specific health priorities for youth," he added.
 
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlines the ABCs of raising safe and healthy kids.
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.