Breast cancer: risks and prevention
It’s breast cancer awareness month.
Let’s talk about risk factors and what we can do to prevent or reduce the likelihood of breast and other cancers.
First, a personal story.
Most of us know someone who’s been through breast cancer treatment. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was in college. That was more than 30 years ago. She underwent surgery for a lumpectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. Receiving a cancer diagnosis is scary. Treatment is scary. I’m grateful to my step-dad for being her support system during this time. I was not around and I regret that.
I don’t want to have to call on the strength my mom had to, to get through a cancer diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.
Fear of illness, fear of loss of control over what I can and can’t do, is a great motivator for me. Family history of chronic illness? Yep, got that on both sides.
So, what can I do to avoid it?
In this post, I’ll include information specific to breast cancer, as well as overall cancer statistics.
Photo by @greg_rosenke on Unsplash
What’s the latest on cancer stats?
Early onset of several cancers, including breast cancer, are on the rise.
“A new large study [July, 2024] led by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) suggests incidence rates continued to rise in successively younger generations in 17 of the 34 cancer types, including breast, pancreatic, and gastric cancers.
Mortality trends also increased in conjunction with the incidence of liver (female only), uterine corpus, gallbladder, testicular, and colorectal cancers.”
What does the research say about cancer and lifestyle?
“In 2019, an estimated 40.0% (713,340 of 1,781,649) of all incident cancers (excluding nonmelanoma skin cancers) and 44.0% (262,120 of 595,737) of all cancer deaths in adults aged 30 years and older in the United States were attributable to the evaluated risk factors.”
The study identified
Cigarette smoking
Excess body weight
Alcohol consumption
as the 3 biggest lifestyle risk factors for cancers.
“For 19 of 30 evaluated cancer types, more than one half of the cancer cases and deaths were attributable to the potentially modifiable risk factors considered in this study.”
A previous study, published in 2008, found that
90–95% of all cancer cases have their roots in the environment and lifestyle.
Whereas “only 5–10% of all cancer cases can be attributed to genetic defects.”
Photo by @prashant_gurung_ on Unsplash
What are the top risk factors for breast cancer?
Excess body weight
Alcohol consumption
Poor diet
Sedentary lifestyle — lack of physical activity
Other identified risk factors to consider
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
Breast Cancer Awareness Month socks
What can you do to reduce your risk?
The 5 pillars of health are brilliant because they don’t change depending on the illness.
They’re always the same.
Diet
Whole food, plant-forward
Movement
Sleep
7-9 hours, every day
Social connection
Stress management
Lentil soup
Let’s get more granular
Increase your fiber!
Having a healthy microbiome counts.
Get outside
Sunshine and movement are both important.
Try noticing and appreciating nature when you’re out there. Yeah, it’s based in science.
Lean on friends and family for support
We’re wired for emotional support and connection to others, both when times are challenging, and when they’re not.
Add soy to your diet
Anything you’ve heard to the contrary is dated (ignore it!). Doctors were not aware of the difference between how estrogen and phytoestrogen (from soy) operate in our bodies.
The research is now clear.
Studies also support the use of soy foods for breast cancer prevention.
Edamame
If you’d like to learn more about breast cancer prevention, including for cancer survivors, Amy Comander, breast oncology physician, Massachusetts General Cancer Center, and Dawn Mussalem, breast cancer specialist at the Mayo Clinic, provide breast cancer prevention recommendations in the following interviews.
https://www.plantstrongpodcast.com/blog/amy-comander
https://www.plantstrongpodcast.com/blog/dawn-mussallem-breast-cancer-awareness
Have you considered making lifestyle changes to prevent chronic illness? What’s been your biggest roadblock?
Related reading
Thanks for reading!
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Eat plants. 🥦 Hydrate.🚰 Move.🤸 Prioritize sleep. 🛌
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