International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Lifestyle choices and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) do not increase the risk of breast cancer in women who already have faulty genes associated with the disease, a new study has revealed.

Previously, experts had speculated about whether things like HRT could be linked to an increased breast cancer risk if there were dangerous interactions between genes that already create a raised chance of developing the illness.

However, researchers from the University of Oxford have found that this is not the case.

More than 7,000 women with breast cancer and more than 10,000 without were examined by the team, who were assessing the relationship between genetic and lifestyle factors.

While genetic mutations and lifestyle choices do both contribute to cancer, if mixed together, they do not pose an increased risk, the scientists discovered.

The author of the study, which will be published in the Lancet, Dr Ruth Travis from the Cancer Epidemology Unit at the university, said: "There's a danger of feeling you're at the fate of your genes.

"But whatever you're born with, there are things you can do to modify your risk."

According to Cancer Research UK, breast cancer is now the most common form of the illness in the UK.

Posted by David Smith