Caloric Restrictions Shield Against Breast Cancer
 (HealthDayNews, 3/9/04)

Dr. Anders Ekbom of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and Dr. Karin Michels of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston gathered data on 7,303 Swedish women hospitalized for anorexia between 1965 and 1998. The researchers searched for records of these patients in the Swedish Cancer Registry, the Swedish Death Registry and the Swedish Fertility Registry. The investigators found that among the anorexic women, there were significantly fewer cases of breast cancer—especially if the subject had given birth to a child—than in the general population. Scientists speculate that, while caloric restriction, may reduce cancer risk; anorexia nervosa contributes to other very serious health problems. They suggest restricting caloric intake to a reasonable extent only