The Ultimate Guide to Breast Health

In New Zealand the statistics for breast cancer are shocking – one in nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Every year 2,300 women face this awful diagnosis and 650 will die annually. Much of breast cancer awareness revolves around the early detection of the disease whereas there are many factors that can be adopted in daily life to reduce the risk in the first place.

Scientists have now uncovered many of the factors that we know cause cancer and looking at global incidence rates gives us a strong indication that diet, lifestyle and environment play a huge part in this disease and therefore in the prevention of this disease. For example, women in rural China have a breast cancer risk 5 to 6 times lower than western women, and yet when they move to the west their incidence of breast cancer increases to that of their new country within 1 or 2 generations. So what is happening in western nations that increases our risk so greatly?

One of the big indications is oestrogen levels as the stimulation of oestrogen feeds seven out of ten types of breast cancers – a very substantial statistic. Higher oestrogen levels result from obesity, lack of exercise, alcohol consumption, diets high in calories, meat, refined carbohydrates and sugars, low fibre diet and the use of antibiotics. There are also other ways in which oestrogen levels elevate, our polluted world has over 100,000 synthetic chemicals, many of which are carcinogenic or work like oestrogen once they are taken into our bodies.

There are a number of things women of all ages can do to reduce their risk of breast cancer:

  • Maintain a healthy body weight
  • Exercise aerobically for 4 or more hours per week
  • Drink less than 5 glasses of alcohol per week
  • Boost vitamin D levels by having 10 mins of unprotected sun exposure daily
  • Eat 8+ servings of fresh fruit and vegetables daily – especially broccoli, cabbage, bok choy
  • Increase intake of phytoestrogens through beans, lentils, miso, tempeh, flax seeds, bean sprouts and wholegrains
  • Drink 4 or more cups of green tea daily
  • Increase intake of omega 3 and 9 fats through oily fish, nuts, seeds, avocado, flax and olive oils

Commonly, New Zealand women are having mammographic screening to detect breast abnormalities, however there is much controversy as to weather this type of screening actually saves lives, especially in pre-menopausal women who have denser breast tissue. Thermographic breast screening has been approved by the American Food and Drug Administration since 1982 and several research trials involving over 300,000 women have been performed. The difference in terms of detecting breast abnormalities means that thermographic screening detects increases in breast heat which can show pre-cancerous changes to the breast tissue up to ten years prior to a detectable lump. Combined with mammograms, thermography increases the reliability to around 95% in women of all ages. In addition, thermograms involve no breast contact, no painful compression or radiation and are safe for women of all ages.

For more information on reducing your risk of breast cancer please contact Wellington Naturopath and Medical Herbalist, Kimberly Taylor by emailing [email protected] today

Breast Health – Dispelling Fears

(The information contained in this article does not constitute medical advice; please consult a physician if you have questions about breast health issues raised in this article.)
 
The primary, if not number one, concern of American women is that they will develop breast cancer. At least that was the biggest fear of those who answered a government survey in 2005. Dread of the disease lurks in the hearts of those who have witnessed their friends and relatives die of it.  Adverse breast health also has a psychosocial component, fueled by fears of loss of femininity, beauty, youthful appearance, sex appeal, marital intimacy and other factors valued in Western culture.
 
Women need not fear the disease as they have in the past. I had it at 43, and again at 52. Now at 56 I am cancer free, living a full life. Not only do I garden, enjoy my sons, and write, but I also volunteer for the American Cancer Society and the National Lymphedema Network, an organization dedicated to helping people with lymphedema, a swelling that can be caused by cancer surgery or radiation. Helping others takes my mind off my plight. 
 

While in 2009 new cases of invasive breast cancer in the U.S. are predicted by the American Cancer Society to be 192,370 and deaths 40,170, the good news is that fewer women are dying of the disease than in prior years. New treatments have revolutionized patient care, the result of multiple clinical trials testing new chemo regimens and targeted therapies such as Herceptin, Tykerb, Avastin, and aromatase inhibitors. Early detection also plays a role: the sooner the disease is found, the sooner it can be treated before it spreads. Mammograms, clinical checkups, and self-exams are important prevention tools, especially starting at age 40 if no other risks exist.
 
A closer look at breast health reveals that while some risk factors can’t be changed, including age, genetics, race, and family history, some lifestyle choices can reduce the risk of receiving a breast cancer diagnosis. One proven factor appears to be obesity. If a woman falls within that category (a body-mass index (BMI) of 30 or more), she should try to lose weight. Another factor in the breast-cancer-risk equation is exercise: swimming, walking, climbing and jogging exemplify the kind of aerobic activities that are beneficial to breast health.
 
Women who never bore children, and those who gave birth to their first child after 30, face a slightly higher risk of breast cancer.  Being pregnant multiple times in her twenties improves breast health for women, perhaps because pregnancy reduces the total number of lifetime menstrual cycles.
 
Those using birth control pills have a slightly greater risk of breast cancer than women who never used them.  A doctor can elaborate on the risks and benefits of birth control pills.
 
Another factor shown to increase the risk of breast cancer is long-term use of progesterone hormone therapy (PHT) or estrogen replacement therapy (ERT). Again, a knowledgeable physician should be able to discuss the pros and cons of using these types of hormone therapies. One suggestion might be to use the lowest effective dose for the shortest period of time necessary.
 
Breast-feeding may slightly lower breast cancer risk, particularly if it lasts 1½ to 2 years. This could be because breast-feeding lowers a woman’s total number of menstrual periods, as does pregnancy.
 
Studies have shown that use of alcohol increases the risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer. Women who consume two to five drinks daily have about 1½ times the risk of women who don’t drink.  For optimum breast health experts suggest limiting drinks to one a day, preferably only two to three times a week.
 
If a close family member had breast cancer, the woman should make sure she is monitored more closely, and ask her doctor if she should be checked for the BRCA-1 or -2 gene and if she is a good candidate for daily tamoxifen or some other preventative drug, or even for preventative surgery. 
 
It is important to remember that while breast health should be monitored regularly, there is no need to obsess over it or fear it to the point that activities like work and parenting get shoved aside. In other words, we should enjoy life! A breast cancer diagnosis is not the end of the world. 
 
Women are encouraged to take charge of their lives and dispel the myths that might be keeping them paralyzed in fear of their breast health going awry. 

How to Care for Breast Health

Like almost everything in women’s bodies, Breasts come in all shapes and sizes. They experience many changes many times and in many ways over lifetime. Thus, knowing how they normally look and feel is a first step for keeping good breasts health.

By far, breast cancer is among the biggest concerns in breasts health, it is the second leading cause of cancer death among women. According to the American Cancer Society, probably about 200,000 or more US women will discover this year they have breast cancer.

About one in eight adult females may be diagnosed with this invasive neoplastic disease during her life, and the probability of death is one in 35. The good news is that breast cancer rates are decreasing, which could be the result of an earlier cancer finding along with an improved treatment.

There is no doubt that earlier detection is fundamental in order to have many more treatment options available, which also gives better outcome chances. We can say that more than 95 per cent of women having their disease caught in earlier stages will be cancer-free about five years after having received diagnosis and treatment.

BSE is a very powerful way to catch a significant number – about 15/20 per cent – of tumors that might have not been detected then possibly after a year of doctor visits. Actually an amount of about 80 percent of cancers are found by women themselves. BSE gives women the opportunity to become familiar with their body, teaches them what’s normal for them, allowing them to be in the best position to detect almost hidden changes in their breast tissue.

According to research, a woman should do self-exam once a month, and as women who have mothers with breast or farther with prostate tumor have a higher likelihood of getting the disease, they should pay particular attention and do self-exam even more often. It is possible that about 80 percent of tumors not discovered by a mammography are found by women themselves.

Screening for breast cancer is not just mammograms; actually there are three ways: mammography, clinical exam and, of coarse, self-exams. The most typical screening mammograms consists of two x-rays of each breast, when diagnostic mammograms can have up to 8 x-rays of each breast. The combination of the three offer the best disease detection opportunity at its earliest, most treatable stages.

The clinical breasts exam is the responsibility of both the gynecologist and the primary care provider. For a breast cancer survivor, also an oncology specialist should be added to the list.

So, what constitutes good breasts health? According to what health care professionals recommend, we could say that for women age 20 and over, having an annual clinical breasts exam. For age 35/40 having a baseline mammogram and an annual clinical breasts exam. For age 40 and over, an annual clinical breasts exam and a mammogram every 1-2 years is what is supposed to constitute good health.