As we are all well aware, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The world is turning temporarily pink as we turn our focus to raising awareness for this extremely worthy cause. In the spirit of prevention and early detection of breast cancer, I present to you:
Be sure to read all nine. You never know, this information could save your life one day!
1. Eat Well
Studies have shown that although a low-fat diet does not significantly reduce the incidence of heart disease or colorectal cancer, it seemed to be of some benefit in preventing breast cancer. Researchers also believe that only certain vegetables can bolster the body's resistance to cancer by helping defend against cell damage. Which veggies are good for you? Cruciferous vegetables: broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and kale - all cancer preventing foods. Other helpful foods are from the "pizza group" - don't get too excited - they are talking about tomato sauce, garlic, and olive oil. Lycopene, an antioxidant found in tomato-based products, is proven to protect against prostate cancer. Preliminary evidence suggests that it also helps prevent breast and oral cancers. Many studies have found that olive oil is protective against cancer, and according to The National Cancer Institute (NCI), research provides compelling evidence that garlic offers cancer-prevention benefits as well.
What to stay away from? Although scientists once believed a high-fiber diet helped prevent colorectal cancer, more recent studies have called that theory into question. Red and processed meats may increase the risk of colon cancer, according to a study by the American Cancer Society. Among nearly 149,000 adults, women who consistently ate two or more ounces of red meat a day (three ounces for men) and one ounce of processed meat three to four days a week (five to six days for men) over a 20-year period were at a 30 to 50 percent higher risk of colon cancer, as compared with those who ate less meat.
What to Do: Eat your broccoli, cabbage, and tomatoes, but ease up on the red meat. The NCI recommends that women consume seven servings of fruits and vegetables a day, while men should eat nine.
2. Exercise
Get sweaty! A good workout — even a relatively light one — lowers your risk of obesity and may help prevent cancers of the breast and colon. The exercise doesn’t have to be intense to provide some benefit: Women who walked briskly for 1 1/4 to 2 1/2 hours a week reduced their risk of breast cancer by 18 percent, according to the Women’s Health Initiative Cohort Study, published in 2003.
Scientists aren’t sure how much exercise is optimal or exactly why it’s effective, but more and more studies are confirming the ability of exercise to prevent cancer — and that goes beyond breast and colon cancers!
What to Do: NCI recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity (such as brisk walking, swimming, dancing, or lawn mowing) five days a week, or 20 minutes or more of vigorous activity (such as jogging, high-impact dancing, swimming continuous laps, or biking strenuously) three or more days a week.
3. Practice Safe Sex
“Most people don’t think of safe sex as an important step for cancer prevention, but it is,” says Carolyn Aldigé, the president and founder of the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation, in Alexandria, Virginia.
Two types of the human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted disease, are responsible for most cases of cervical cancer in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). Scientists believe the virus causes inflammation that can lead to cervical cancer, which kills about a third of women diagnosed with it. HPV spreads by sexual contact and usually has no symptoms, so a woman can have the virus for years without realizing it.
What to Do: Get regular Pap smears, which are the best way to detect precancerous or cancerous cells of the cervix caused by HPV. Ask your doctor about a new vaccine called Gardasil, which may protect women from the two most common cancer-causing strains of HPV and prevent up to 70 percent of all cervical cancer cases. The most recent study of the vaccine showed that all women who were vaccinated were cancer-free more than four years later. It’s the first vaccine ever developed to prevent cancer, and it may become available this year.
4. Drink Coffee or Tea — and Go Easy on Alcohol
Coffee and tea get a bad rap for causing insomnia and jitters, but these high-octane beverages may have cancer-busting powers.
According to new research, tea may help reduce the risk of ovarian cancer. A study of more than 60,000 Swedish women found that women who drank two or more cups of tea daily were 46 percent less likely to develop the disease; those who drank one cup a day had a 24 percent lower risk.
Daily Coffee: Coffee may reduce your chances of getting liver cancer. One recent study in Japan found that those who drank more than one cup of coffee a day were significantly less likely than others to develop a certain type of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
A study conducted last year also found that the more coffee subjects consumed, the lower their risk for HCC. (More than two cups of coffee a day, however, can aggravate certain health conditions, like heart problems and anxiety.)
Alcoholic Beverages: Alcohol, which may protect the heart, can raise a woman’s cancer risk — and it’s almost certain to do so when consumed in excess. Even having two drinks a day is associated with increased risks for breast, intestinal, liver, esophageal, and larynx cancers. Those who drink four or five alcoholic beverages a day increase their breast cancer risk by a whopping 70 percent!
Alcohol is thought to contribute to cancer by increasing hormone levels or by making the body more susceptible to the damage that carcinogens, such as tobacco, can cause. It may also facilitate the growth of blood vessels that supply a tumor.
But many doctors believe that the overall health benefits of moderate amounts (one glass a day) of alcohol, particularly wine, outweigh the risks. Red wine contains potent antioxidants and may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
What to Do: “Women at high risk of breast cancer — those with a known genetic mutation or a history of breast cancer — should abstain from or limit their alcohol,” says ACS president Carolyn D. Runowicz, M.D. Other women should consume no more than one drink a day, and men should limit themselves to two, according to the ACS. You can enjoy your daily coffee and tea without guilt.
5. Don’t Smoke (or Hang Around with Smokers)
Seems like a no-brainer by now doesn't it? But you'd be surprised how many people are still lighting up.
Smoking, breathing smoke, and chewing tobacco are the surest ways to raise your cancer risk. “Tobacco is far and away the number one cause of cancer,” says Therese Bevers, M.D., the medical director of the Cancer Prevention Center at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston.
Smoking accounts for about 30 percent of all cancer deaths, according to the ACS, and harms more than just the lungs — it also increases the risk of cancer of the larynx, mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, pancreas, cervix, kidney, and stomach, as well as some leukemias. Chewing tobacco raises the odds of developing oral and esophageal cancers.
Carcinogens and Cigarettes: Many smokers mistakenly believe that nicotine is the sole cancer-causing agent in cigarettes. Actually, each cigarette contains hundreds of carcinogenic chemicals. That’s why smoking “light” cigarettes doesn’t reduce the risks. Experts say there’s no known “safe” number of cigarettes to smoke or amount of smoky air to breathe.
“The message is just to avoid smoking and smoky air at all costs,” says Carolyn Aldigé, the president and founder of the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation, in Alexandria, Virginia. By quitting, smokers can lower their risk for lung cancer almost immediately, according to the ACS. And 10 years after your final puff, your risk of contracting lung cancer falls by about half.
What to Do: For detailed suggestions that have helped millions quit, go to www.quit.com or the ACS website, www.cancer.org. Or call the society’s support hotline at 800-227-2345.
6. Stay Slim
Obesity increases the risks for all sorts of cancers, including cancer of the breast, uterus, kidney, pancreas, and colon. “When you’re 20 percent over your ideal body weight, that’s when you begin to see increased risk, and it continues to increase with every pound gained,” says ACS president Carolyn D. Runowicz, M.D.
There are a number of theories as to why. One is that obesity boosts estrogen levels in women, raising the risk of hormone-related cancers, such as breast and endometrial. Another is that obesity elevates insulin levels, stimulating cell growth and contributing to diabetes, which is linked to liver, colon, and pancreatic cancers. Scientists at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center in Rochester, Minnesota, have found that the risk of developing pancreatic cancer within three years of a new diabetes diagnosis jumps eightfold.
What to Do: To determine whether your weight puts you at risk, give yourself a virtual weigh-in with the body-mass-index calculator. A score of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered normal; 25 to 29.9 is overweight; and 30 or more is an indication of obesity and a higher cancer risk.
7. Treat Heartburn and Ulcers
Conditions such as heartburn, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and ulcers may contribute to the development of cancer later in life — including one particularly deadly type of esophageal cancer. So treating these inflammatory conditions is an important way to help prevent the disease.
Chronic acid reflux — heartburn in the chest and throat that can flare up after a spicy meal or a late-night bender — may gradually erode the esophagus, which may cause a condition that could ultimately lead to cancer.
The bacteria that cause some ulcers are thought to prompt stomach cancer in a similar manner. A possible theory is that these sources of irritation kick-start a repair process in the body, causing cells to multiply in an attempt to heal and replace damaged tissue. But as ongoing inflammation piles damage on top of damage, those replacement cells may start to multiply out of control.
What to Do: If acid reflux flares up once a week or more, you may be at high risk, and you should talk to your doctor. Those with chronic reflux should avoid acid-reflux triggers, such as spicy foods, citrus fruits, chocolate, and peppermint, as well as excessive amounts of coffee, soda, and alcohol.
8. Protect Yourself from the Sun (and Mind your Vitamin D)
Skin cancer is the nation’s most prevalent cancer — more than a million Americans are diagnosed each year — and it’s also the most preventable. Protecting your skin every day, rather than just when you’re at the beach or a pool, may make all the difference.
“I have patients say to me all the time, ‘I don’t lie out in the sun, so I don’t have to worry about cancer,’” says Jessica Wu, a Los Angeles dermatologist. “But even if you’re not out there slathering yourself in baby oil, damaging UV sunlight is coming through the window of your car and your office, and it’s hitting you every time you walk outside.” Over time, those bits of exposure can add up.
Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, is the leading cancer among women ages 25 to 29 and is rising faster than all other cancers, according to SkinCancerNet, a division of the American Academy of Dermatology. But skin cancer is often easily detected. “Since we can usually see it,” says Wu, “we can catch it early, remove it, and get rid of the problem the majority of the time.”
Protect Your Skin: Dermatologists recommend wearing sunscreen every day of the year and reapplying it every two hours if you’re outside. Although people with fair skin are at the highest risk, “even Hispanics, Asians, and African-Americans should wear sunscreen daily,” says Wu, “because you can get skin cancer regardless of what color skin you have.” Hats, sunglasses, and dark, tightly knit clothing are key protectors as well.
Vitamin D: But even as sunlight raises the risk of skin cancer, small doses can help prevent other cancers. It’s a good source of vitamin D, which may play a role in preventing prostate cancer in men and lymphoma and colon cancers in both sexes.
What to Do: Researchers recommend that people get the bulk of their vitamin D from supplements and foods such as cereal, fish, and dairy products. Take a daily supplement containing 400 to 800 IU of vitamin D3, and wear sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher that contains avobenzone (Parsol 1789), titanium dioxide, or zinc oxide. This will ensure you are protected against both UVA and UVB light, which can contribute to skin cancer.
9. Get Screened!
Cancer screenings are becoming more sophisticated and sensitive. Mammography remains the best way to identify breast cancer at an early stage. A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine last October credits mammography with a 24 percent drop in breast cancer deaths in the United States between 1990 and 2000.
Early Detection: Screenings are even more effective with cervical and colon cancers. Pap smears can pick up abnormal cells in the cervix long before cancer develops; these tests are responsible for a 74 percent drop in cervical cancer deaths between 1955 and 1992.
Screenings for colon cancer, such as colonoscopies, can spot polyps that could later develop into cancer. With early removal of those polyps, 76 to 90 percent of colon cancers can be prevented altogether, according to the National Polyp Study, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Risks of Screenings: Most doctors believe that early detection through these methods offers the best chance of beating the disease. But some studies and other experts, such as Barry Kramer, M.D., the associate director for disease prevention at the National Institutes of Health, emphasize that screenings come with risks of their own.
These include overdiagnosis, in which a slow-growing cancer that might never cause a health problem is treated as an aggressive one; false positives, which Kramer calls “very common”; and unnecessary biopsies, most commonly of the breast, which could leave scar tissue that makes cancer more difficult to detect in the future. Even so, most experts would rather err on the side of caution, preferring to catch the disease early.
What to Do: For information on the routine tests recommended for healthy people at normal risk, see the cancer-screening guidelines at www.cancer.org and When to Get Screened for Cancer. To learn more about various cancer tests, go to the NCI website at www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/screening.
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