The Wall Street Journal reports, "A popular class of bone-building drugs known as bisphosphonates appears to significantly reduce women's risk of breast cancer, according to research presented Thursday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium."
"Women with osteoporosis already have lower risk of breast cancer," says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. "The theory is that they have lower estrogen levels, and thus less stimulation of the breast tissue which might lead to breast cancer. This retrospective meaning uncontrolled study, which has not yet been published, shows that women on various bisphosphonates to increase bone density have 30 percent reduced risk of breast cancer compared to a general pool of women who are not on the drug. It's interesting news, but this is a preliminary study. It's not the gold standard by any means, so stay tuned."
