Good question. And a question I am often asked.

Here's the scoop. Simply having breasts and being female places all women at risk. Women with size 32 AA bras get breast cancer just like someone with 46 DDs.

For women with known risk factors, though, there may be a link to breast size. One study confirmed that women who had breast-reduction surgery had a significant reduction - as high as 50 percent in some patients - compared with large-breasted women who didn't have the procedure.

Does that mean that everyone with bodacious breasts should get a reduction? Probably not. The key is to know that the risk factors for breast cancer are not equal, and to find out if you have any of the more dangerous risk factors.

So now is a good time to remind you of those risk factors:

• Having a first-degree relative (mother, sister) who had breast cancer, especially before she reached menopause
• Having had a breast biopsy sometime in the past that revealed some atypical cells or lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS, abnormal cells in the milk-producing glands of the breast)
• Not having had a baby before age 30
• Starting menstruation younger than age 12
• Not going through menopause until after age 55

Among these factors, the most dangerous in terms of significantly increasing your risk are having a family history of breast cancer and having a finding of atypical cells on a previous breast biopsy.

If you have some or all of these risk factors, will your insurance cover a breast reduction procedure, which the researchers say will reduce your breast cancer risk? Probably not, since insurance companies haven't yet caught up with the latest scientific discoveries.

But insurance companies usually will pay for the procedure if the doctor documents that you are experiencing back problems from carrying a heavier than usual load. The doctor should not, however, record that he's doing a breast reduction to reduce the risk of breast cancer-in that case the insurance firm might expect the surgeon to perform a much bigger reduction, like a mastectomy-and that's not what you were signing up for.

So, bottom line: If a woman has no risk factors, her risk of breast cancer is going to be the same regardless of her breast size.

But large-breasted women do face one other challenge: getting all that breast tissue imaged in a mammogram. Getting clear images of every portion of larger breasts may require more than just the customary 2 views per breast.