Authors Drs Howard Strickler and Marc Gunter

Higher-than-normal levels of insulin place postmenopausal women at increased risk of breast cancer, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine report. Their findings, published in the January 7 issue of the "Journal of the National Cancer Institute," suggest that interventions that target insulin and its signaling pathways may decrease breast cancer risk in these women.

The Einstein study is the first to prospectively identify insulin's role in breast cancer while controlling for estrogen levels.