Hip Check

Not the son?
We don't know.

But it's important for wide-hipped women not to panic.
This kind of information is important because it directs scientific attention. We've neglected the scientific importance of the embryo. Most cancer research says people must have done something 10 years ago, 20 years ago. These ideas are correct, but they leave a lot unexplained. It may be that we've neglected the importance of the embryo. We now know that the human embryo is extremely sensitive to its surroundings.

What other body parts would be markers?
Any body part that grows rapidly in girls in puberty is a potential marker. It's very striking that this marker, across the maximum width of the hips, that is the part that grows faster in girls than in boys.  Girls need the space for the time we become pregnant. It might be that soft tissues, like breasts, could be a marker, but we don't know.

Do wide hips also increase the risk of other estrogen-linked cancers, like ovarian cancer?
We're working on that. It's a very good question. The answer is not "no."

Did a family history of breast cancer matter?
We don't know that yet. In Finland, everybody's sicknesses that lead to hospitalization or to developing cancer goes on a national register. So we know about the lifetime illnesses, and we also can link that to the illnesses in their families.

Would the same results still hold true today, in the United States?
There's no reason why not. The origin of disease in the womb is a universal part of human biology, wherever you live. We've always thought there was a link between estrogen and breast cancer. That's why there's all the scare about the Pill and hormone-replacement therapy.