A recent study of 94,000 U.S. women ages 50-71 revealed an interesting and deadly fact:

Most likely due to the relationship between body fat and estrogen, obese women who have never had hormone replacement therapy are 83% more likely to develop ovarian cancer than their normal weight counterparts.

A perhaps even more frightening conclusion of the study is that young, 18 year old, women who are obese have an increased risk of contracting ovarian cancer in later life than, again, their counterparts of normal weight.

Both sets of data seem to indicate that weight control, most effectively brought about through proper nutrition and regular, moderate exercise can be effective in preventing what is a particularly deadly, and difficult to diagnose, form of cancer which kills about 15,000 women in the U.S. annually.

According to the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance's website, approximately 75 percent of ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage after the cancer has spread beyond the ovary. The reason for this is that in its early stages, the symptoms of ovarian cancer are relatively difficult to spot, and the disease is not normally discovered until it is too late.

The most common symptoms of ovarian cancer are:

Bloating

Pelvic or abdominal pain

Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly

Urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency)

As can be readily seen, these are common feelings which, in themselves, could be easily ignored or attributed to a wide range of other conditions. However, it is the frequency of these symptoms, or their appearance where they did not exist before, which can alert a woman that she may need to seek a medical examination to determine their cause.

While the final answers to many questions about ovarian cancer in particular, and cancer in general, are still being sought, study after study seems to indicate the value of exercise and weight loss for those who are overweight as a part of a program to help protect against cancer and other deadly diseases and conditions such as stroke, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

Donovan Baldwin is a freelance writer currently living in central Texas. A University Of West Florida alumnus (1973) with a BA in accounting, he is a member of Mensa and has held several managerial positions. After retiring from the U. S. Army in 1995, he became interested in internet marketing and developed various online businesses. He has been writing poetry, articles, and essays for over 40 years, and now frequently publishes articles on his own websites and for use by other webmasters. He has a weight loss blog at http://nodiet4me.blogspot.com.

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