Health: Body News.

Weight and Breast Cancer

The more weight a woman gains, the greater her risk of developing breast cancer. Researchers asked 62,756 women, ages 50 to 54, to report their current height and weight, and their weight at age 18. By tracking how many of them developed breast cancer within the next seven years, they concluded that women who gained 21 to 30 pounds as adults were 40 percent more likely to contract the disease than women who gained five pounds or less. Extra fat tissue increases estrogen levels, which can fuel breast-cancer growth, says Heather Spencer Feigelson, a senior epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta. Besides avoiding weight gain, she says, other protective measures are doing regular physical activity and limiting alcohol.

Peel Power

As a skin peel, microdermabrasion is somewhat gentler than glycolic acid, a new study suggests. Researchers led by Ji Youn Song at the Catholic University of Korea in Seoul administered both treatments to the forearm skin of 13 women, ages 23 to 30. (The glycolic acid was evaluated in concentrations of 30, 50, and 70 percent, reflecting the strength of prescription products and dermatologists' treatments.) Five hours after the procedures, peeling and redness were less obvious with microdermabrasion. In addition, these side effects disappeared after one day for microdermabrasion, compared with three to four days for glycolic acid. The researchers report that microdermabrasion seems to cause less damage to the skin's protective barrier, but that both ...