Breast Cancer prevention
All women are at risk of Breast Cancer (BC).
Therefore each woman has to know how to reduce BC risk.
BC prevention should start early in life because nearly 25% of BC are diagnosed in women younger than age 50 years old in developed countries.
Researchers also quote BC prevention task force reports urging people to focus on risk factors during specific time periods in a woman’s life: - in childhood, before and during breast development, - in young adulthood/adulthood before the breasts fully mature with the birth of a woman’s first child.
Research has shown that girls who eat a high-calorie, low-nutrient diet that contains few vegetables and fruits and get little or no exercise/physical activity are more likely to start having their periods earlier.
This means that the body starts producing more estrogen - so girls who start menstruating earlier are exposed to more estrogen over their lifetimes. We know that estrogen can make BC develop and grow. Girls who eat more vegetables and whole grains are more likely to start their periods later, which means they’re exposed to relatively less estrogen over their lifetimes.
“Timing of prevention therefore matters,” the researchers wrote. “Because 22% of breast cancer is diagnosed in premenopausal women and is often more aggressive than cancers diagnosed in postmenopausal women, it makes sense to start prevention early in life when it can have maximum impact. For example, prevention begun in childhood and continuing through adolescence and early adult years can reduce development of premalignant or intermediate lesions that are on the pathway to breast cancer.”
These are recommendations for BC prevention:
1. Eat healthy. It is better to eat fresh fruits & vegetables, soy products and milk products (milk, yogurt, cheese).
It is necessary to avoid foods with high fat content and limit processed and red meats.
Eat a diet full of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains in childhood and continue eating that way throughout life can prevent 3% of breast cancers.
2. Avoid or limit of alcohol. Limit or avoid alcohol between first periods and the birth of the first child can prevent for women 3% of BC. Limit or avoid alcohol throughout life can prevent 3% of BC.
3. Stop smoking.
4. Avoid being overweight (especially for postmenopausal women).Avoid gaining weight can prevent 25-32% of BC.
5. Have an active lifestyle. Regular exercises 5 times a week reduce BC risk!
By choosing the healthiest lifestyle options possible, a woman can empower herself and make sure her BC risk is as low as possible. Be physically active as a child and continue exercising throughout life and prevent 11% of breast cancers.
6. Use hormonal replacement therapy and birth-control pills only under doctor's control. Avoid using hormone replacement therapy that contains estrogen and progesterone can prevent 3% of BC.
Kindly note, that there is no vaccination against BC.
Doing all that you can do to keep your BC risk as low as it can be makes good sense.
Exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet,
maintaining a healthy weight,
and avoiding alcohol
are steps you can take to control several risk factors!
