If you want to minimize your chances of developing breast cancer, staying the same skirt size over the years might help, a new study suggests.

"Our study has shown that an increase of one size every 10 years between 25 and postmenopausal age [over 60] is associated with an increase of breast cancer [risk] in postmenopausal women by 33 percent," said lead researcher Dr. Usha Menon, head of the Gynecological Cancer Research Center at University College London.

The findings are based on information from nearly 93,000 women enrolled in a British database for cancer screening. When the women entered the study between 2005 and 2010, all were over age 50. None had a diagnosis of breast cancer.

At age 25, the women's average skirt size had been an 8. When they entered the study, at the average age of 64, the average size was a 10. Three out of four women reported increased skirt sizes.

The risk of breast cancer increased 77 percent if the skirt size went up two sizes every 10 years from 25 until women were past menopause, Menon said.

Put another way, for each size increase every 10 years, the five-year risk of developing breast cancer after menopause rose from one in 61 to one in 51, Menon estimated.

The study is published online Sept. 24 in BMJ Open.

Read more from WebMD.