LONDON – Dr Imogen Rogers and a team at Bristol University have been awarded £99,000 from World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF UK) to further investigate the relationship between early menarche and breast cancer.
Dr Rogers is researching the link between diet, physical activity and age when menstruation starts in girls. She and her team are following 4,000 girls taking part in the ‘Children of the Nineties’ study in Bristol. Previous studies have shown that the younger a girl starts to menstruate the higher her risk of breast cancer, although the reasons are not yet known. The fact that the average age at which UK girls begin menstruating has decreased over the past century is therefore troubling. “We hope to identify any significant relationships between food, lifestyle and early menarche, with the longer term aim of offering young girls preventative advice,” says Dr Rogers.
WCRF UK is the nation’s leading charity dedicated to the prevention of cancer through healthy diets and lifestyles. Each year WCRF UK awards 8-12 grants of up to £150,000 each to researchers in the UK, Europe and elsewhere in the world. To learn how you can help fund vital cancer research in your local area, please call 020 7343 4200 ext 12 and request the leaflet “Our Research, Your Future”.
Notes to the Editor:
WCRF UK has over 350,000 supporters across the UK helping the charity to fund research and provide a wide range of education materials.
For further information, please contact:
World Cancer Research Fund, 19 Harley Street, London W1G 9QJ
Tel: 020 7343 4200 Fax: 020 7343 4201 Email: wcrf@wcrf.org
Web sites: www.wcrf-uk.org and www.wcrfhealthcheck.org
ALSPAC The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (also known as Children of the 90s) is a unique ongoing research project based in the University of Bristol. It enrolled 14,000 mothers during pregnancy in 1991-2 and has followed most of the children and parents in minute detail ever since.