SAN FRANCISCO, CA (NBC) - Osteoporosis drugs may not protect women from developing breast cancer, as previously thought.
Several past observational studies have suggested the protective effect.
But a new analysis of data from the University of California, San Francisco finds the drugs, called Bisphosphonates, may have no impact on breast cancer risk at all.
Experts say low estrogen levels both weaken bones and reduce the risk for breast cancer.
So women prescribed the bone-strengthening drugs may have had a lowered risk for breast cancer to begin with.