Breakthrough Generations Study

Nearly 900 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every week in the UK. Recently scientists estimated that up to half of all breast cancers may be preventable. This is why it is vital that we understand the causes of breast cancer, to help women avoid the disease in the future. The Breakthrough Generations Study is the largest, most comprehensive scientific study into the causes of breast cancer.

Even in its early stages, the Generations Study has already given scientists new information. Results from the Generations Study have been published in nine articles in medical journals and have revealed some exciting findings.

Scientists were able to identify a number of factors affecting the age at which a girl starts her periods, which is important because starting periods earlier increases your risk of developing breast cancer later in life. The results show that over the last 50 years the overall trend is for girls to start their periods younger (especially girls from poorer backgrounds) and that being heavier and exercising less is a significant influencing factor. Other factors contributing to earlier periods include not being breastfed, a low birth weight and exposure to cigarette smoke whilst in the womb.

These findings support our message about the importance of maintaining a healthy weight to reduce your risk of breast cancer. Understanding these kinds of risk factors allows us to provide better advice with the aim of reducing the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer every year.

This year the Breakthrough Generations Study recruited the 100,000th participant, a year ahead of schedule, and we are now investigating the effects of genetic, environmental, behavioural and hormonal factors in order to shed light on the causes of breast cancer. Spanning over 40 years, the Breakthrough Generations Study is the world’s largest, most comprehensive study into the causes of breast cancer.

With your support our continued research will concentrate on understanding who is at risk of developing breast cancer. So in future we hope to be able to give women health advice or preventative treatments to stop the disease developing.