The factors that we have studied include reproductive factors, female hormone use, smoking, obesity, exercise, diet, neighborhood characteristics and experiences of racism.

There are many areas to explore, from child obesity to diabetes to nutrition and exercise. We're just getting started with our reporting, so now is a good time to offer ideas and suggestions.

The real risk factors are things like diet, smoking, obesity and high blood pressure. Hormone replacement therapy is a teeny-tiny risk. It makes no sense for someone who weighs 250 pounds and smokes to say she doesn't want to take HRT because it will give her a heart attack.

Except for smoking, obesity is now the number one preventable cause of death in this country. Three hundred thousand people die of obesity every year,

The two leading preventable causes of mortality are cigarette smoking and abdominal obesity and we hit both.

The study is the largest follow-up study of the health of African American women yet conducted.