A UK study of over 33,000 postmenopausal women found that a higher BMI at age 20 was linked to a 15% lower risk of postmenopausal breast cancer for every 5 kg/m² increase, the opposite of midlife BMI, where each 5 kg/m² increase raised risk by 20%. Researchers found this early-life effect works partly through mammographic density: a higher BMI at 20 was associated with lower visual analog scale (VAS) density, and lower density itself is linked to reduced cancer risk. Notably, VAS percentage density showed a stronger link to cancer risk than the volume-based fibroglandular volume (FGV) measure. The findings suggest that adiposity’s effect on breast cancer risk depends heavily on when in life it occurs, highlighting mammographic density as a key pathway connecting early-adulthood body size to later cancer outcomes.
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