According to research from the National Cancer Institute in Maryland and published in Breast Cancer Research journal, women who regularly carry out vigorous exercise in their 60s are up to 30 per cent less likely to develop breast cancer, than those who exercise gently. The findings add to the weight of evidence about the power of exercise to reduce the risk of breast cancer, which kills more than 1,000 women in the UK every month.

The American researchers made the connection after tracking the health of more than 32,000 women, average age 61, for eleven years. At the start of the study the women were asked how much gentle and strenuous exercise they did. Gentle exercise included light housework as well as walking, golf and cycling. Examples of vigorous exercise included heavy housework, such as cleaning floors, digging the garden and chopping wood as well as running, tennis and dancing. Eleven years later 1,506 of the women had developed cancer. Analysis showed that vigorous but not gentle exercise was more likely to cut the risk in women who were not overweight.

 

Although the Maryland study suggested that vigorous exercise is more beneficial for reducing risk, other studies have shown that gentler exercise is better than no exercise at all and can help ward off breast cancer. A six year study of more than 20,000 European women recently concluded that hovering, dusting and other light domestic chores cut the risk by up to 30 per cent.

 

There is still much debate about the best form of exercise and how much women over 60 should do to reduce their breast cancer risk but we do know that regular exercise is highly recommended because it can help prevent weight gain and obesity which are known to increase breast cancer risk.

For many years now I’ve been urging pregnant women (and women aiming to conceive) to cut down or better still avoid caffeine altogether because even relatively small amounts of caffeine have been linked to an increased risk of miscarriage. And now the Government Food Standard’s Agency (FSA) is warning women to limit their consumption of caffeine from three cups to two cups a day.

This warning coincides with a study linking caffeine to smaller babies. And earlier this year research in the US published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology found that drinking more than 200mg of coffee a day also doubled the risk of miscarriage.

Previously studies have indicated that more than three cups of coffee a day to an increased risk of miscarriage but now the FSA is lowering the recommended limit of 300 mg a day to 200 mg, the equivalent of two average sized mugs of instant or two cups of brewed coffee a day. It has also identified other products, such as tea, coffee and cola, containing caffeine that count towards the 200 mg.

Researchers from Leicester and Leeds universities monitored the daily caffeine intake of 2,500 pregnant women using questionnaires. They compared this with the birth weight of the baby, taking into account the weight and ethnic background of the mother. The research, published in the British Medical Journal found that women with a caffeine intake of more than 200mg a day were more likely to give birth to smaller babies.

There have also been studies linking just one cup of coffee a day with an increased risk of infertility so even though the FSA currently advises no more than two cups a day my advice to pregnant women and women trying to conceive remains the same: avoid caffeine altogether and replace with healthy alternatives such as herbal teas. It is also important to be aware that some coffee sold in coffee shop chains contains higher levels of caffeine than assumed in the FSA guidelines, which state that an average mug of coffee contains 100mg. A small cafe latte can contain as much as 240mg of caffeine, meaning a pregnant woman would exceed the recommended daily caffeine intake in one drink.

Previous studies have shown that vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin which is produced from sunshine and found in oily fish and eggs is important for a healthy pregnancy, but a new study shows that a deficiency may also affect sperm.

The research found that almost a third of men experiencing fertility problems had low levels of vitamin D. The University of Sydney findings presented at the Fertility Society Conference investigated DNA fragmentation of sperm, a significant factor in male infertility. DNA fragmentation of sperm is most often the result of cellular damage resulting from infection, smoking or advanced paternal age. 58% of the men had high levels of DNA fragmentation.  (If you are interested in this test, please see the Resources Page).  These findings add weight to a European study earlier this year that shows women’s vitamin D levels strongly correlate with their ability to conceive.

The results of this study once again show how beneficial for both male and female fertility positive diet and lifestyle changes can be. For most people just spending ten to twenty minutes outside in natural day light every day and eating two to three portions of oily fish a week is enough of a boost to vitamin D levels.