There's a history of breast cancer in my family. Are there any preventative measures I can take to decrease my risk, and how often should I get checked out?
Answers (6)
Breast cancer is the most common female cancer and the second most common cause of cancer death in women in the United States (behind lung cancer). Knowing your risk of breast cancer and what you can do to decrease it is extremely important. There are many different factors to consider when determining your risk, including whether or not breast cancer runs in your family.
If breast cancer runs in your family, you should tell your doctor. You will need to provide your doctor with information on which relatives had breast cancer, how old they were when they were diagnosed and if there are histories of any other types of cancers in your family. Your doctor will also ask you questions about your lifestyle, diet, medications and reproductive history to help determine your risk and what type of follow-up you need. For example, some women at high risk for breast cancer start having mammograms as early as age 25.
It's also important to know that family history is not the only thing that can influence your risk of breast cancer. In fact, only about five to six percent of breast cancers are due to genetic factors.
While you can't change your family history, there are things that can decrease your risk of breast cancer, including:
- Regular exercise
- Healthy body weight
- Low-fat diet
- Adequate calcium and vitamin D intake
- Limited alcohol intake
- Pregnancy
- Breastfeeding
Another important thing you can do is to follow your doctor's recommendation for screening. While most women do not need a mammogram until age 40, if your doctor recommends a mammogram, then get one!
If cancer runs in the family I would probably also recommend a good curcumin product and some green tea extract.
I am not real big on mammograms and some doctors I have spoken with are very high on breast thermography which throws off no radiation and claims a very high accuracy level.
Here on the East coast we have found an overwhelming number of women being diagnosed with breast cancer that are residents of Long Island. We now know that this is likely caused by chemical pollutants in the soil and water.
Here are just 4 of the 10 important things you should do on a daily basis:
1- One of the most important things is the purity of the water you drink. Water is one of the most important nutrients in our diet. Make sure you drink an adequate amount each day...and this means water alone, not tea, not seltzer, etc. Use either bottled water or filter your own water using a Brita or similar filter.
2- Be conscious of the quality of the meats and other protein foods you consume from animal sources.
A- Very important to find not only "organic", but grass fed and grass finished beef.
B- Consume lamb as it's processed in a more pure way than regular cattle for beef.
C- Consume only organic milk - from grass fed cows.
D- Look for wild caught fish, do not eat the industrial, fish farmed salmon and tilapia.
3- Realize that what you put on your body gets absorbed into your body and will inevitably end up in your fat stores. Fat stores are predominantly what make up our breasts. Use creams and lotions without parabins, and with the least amount of chemicals.
http://www.thechinastudy.com/