Among older overweight women, low levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol may signal an increased risk of breast cancer risk, research suggests.

Dr. Anne-Sofie Furberg from the University of Tromso in Norway and colleagues studied nearly 39,000 Norwegian women who provided data on lipids, weight, diet, and lifestyle. They were followed for an average of 17 years, during which time a total of 708 women developed invasive breast cancer.

As reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, low HDL cholesterol was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer after menopause in overweight women.

According to Furberg, "when the overweight and obese women were divided in four equalized subgroups according to increasing levels of HDL cholesterol in the blood, women with the lowest level of HDL cholesterol had a threefold higher risk of postmenopausal breast cancer as compared to women with the highest level of HDL cholesterol."

Furberg emphasized that "the observed association ... needs to be confirmed in studies of other populations to verify the role of HDL cholesterol as a useful maker."