October - Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Like every year women around the world become a bit more aware of this deadly disease when October comes. Some might have developed the disease over the last twelve months; others may know someone who has.

The statistics are terrifying despite the growing awareness and health information available to us:

• About 1 in 8 U.S. women (just under 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
• In 2011, an estimated 230,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 57,650 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer.
• About 2,140 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in men in 2011. A man’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000.
• From 1999 to 2005, breast cancer incidence rates in the U.S. decreased by about 2% per year. The decrease was seen only in women aged 50 and older. One theory is that this decrease was partially due to the reduced use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) by women after the results of a large study called the Women’s Health Initiative were published in 2002. These results suggested a connection between HRT and increased breast cancer risk.
• About 39,520 women in the U.S. were expected to die in 2011 from breast cancer, though death rates have been decreasing since 1990 - especially in women under 50. These decreases are thought to be the result of treatment advances, earlier detection through screening, and increased awareness.
• For women in the U.S., breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer.
• Besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. Just under 30% of cancers in women are breast cancers.
• White women are slightly more likely to develop breast cancer than African-American women. However, in women under 45, breast cancer is more common in African-American women than white women. Overall, African-American women are more llkely to die of breast cancer. Asian, Hispanic, and Native-American women have a lower risk of developing and dying from breast cancer.
• In 2011, there were more than 2.6 million breast cancer survivors in the US.
• A woman’s risk of breast cancer approximately doubles if she has a first-degree relative (mother, sister, daughter) who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. About 15% of women who get breast cancer have a family member diagnosed with it.
• In men, about 1 in 10 breast cancers are believed to be due to BRCA2 mutations, and even fewer cases to BRCA1 mutations.
• About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer. These occur due to genetic mutations that happen as a result of the aging process and life in general, rather than inherited mutations.  

For most people the diagnosis comes as a shock. To many it is a death sentence. And yet, breast cancer, like many other cancers, is a symptom of a life strategies gone wrong. It can be prevented! Prevention means a drastic change of lifestyle - a step that relatively few people want to take. At least not before they are diagnosed with a deadly disease. 

The importance of early detection of breast cancer cannot be stressed enough. It takes only a few minutes a day to perform self-exam. 

Healthy nutrition is vital in prevention of any disease. Just consider that a better health is only a meal away. It really is this simple!

Wishing everyone a magnificent time in October, in radiant health - Dominique Allmon

Dominique Allmon©2013

*This information is for educational purpose only. It is not meant to diagnose or cure a disease.

How to Prevent Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer is a cancer that affects the breast tissues. It usually forms in the ducts that carry milk to the nipples and in the glands that make milk (lobules). This life-threatening disease affects mostly women, but also more and more men. Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in the world.

There are many factors that lead to cancer and any nutritional and lifestyle approach to prevent it must address them all. Anti-cancer nutritional program has three goals:

• strengthen the immune system
• avoid or neutralize carcinogens
• protect DNA and prevent cellular damage

Even with all the advances in both, the diagnostic medicine and the pharmaceutical technology, the mortality rate for breast cancer remains very high. And while the medical establishment still quarrels about the role of food in the disease genealogy and prevention, the nutritionists are aware of the fact that nutrients have been used to cure and prevent disease since thousands of years. And although nutrition cannot be the sole cure for cancer, healthy nutrition, rich in fresh fruit and vegetable, contributes to a stronger immune system and overall well being.

Food compounds that have very high cancer-preventive potential are investigated in laboratory setting of many serious research institutions.

The anti breast-cancer diet should include high doses of vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin, calcium glucarate, omega-3 fatty acids, and the oleic acid. Power foods such as pomegranate, raspberries, cruciferous vegetables rich in the cancer fighting indole-3-carbinole, curcumin found in curry, green tea, soy isoflavones, flax rich in lingans, and medicinal mushrooms such as shiitake and maitake, all contain compounds that may act synergistically to promote breast health. Although the mechanisms of action are not yet fully understood, most of these compounds are very potent antioxidants and appear to promote apoptosis, or programmed cell death thus "exterminating" cancerous cells in the breast tissue. Some of them also reduce inflammation as well as the proliferation of blood vessels to the tumor, and even stop the metastasis or spread of cancerous cells in the body.

These potent foods act in synergy and prevent the DNA damage, inhibit growth and reproduction of cancerous cells in the body and help reduce inflammation. Consuming them on regular bases and adding more fresh fruit and vegetables to your diet, and removing at the same time all foods that contain preservatives, additives, sugar, hydrogenated and saturated fat, and too much salt, should help your body to detoxify, alkalize and maintain proper pH balance. This is important step in cancer prevention as cancers cannot grow in alkaline condition.

Changes in your diet will also help you to lose weight, if you need to, and keep the weight off. Remember that obesity is one of the greatest risk factors for breast cancer and the lowest survival rate after the cancer have been treated.

If you suffer from hypothyroidism, make sure that you bring your thyroid hormones back to normal levels. Hypothyroidism precedes most breast disease. By taking control of this problem as soon as it appears, you will decrease your risk of developing breast cancer.

Learn how to do your own breast self-examination and perform it on a regular basis. A great majority of lumps are detected by the women themselves!

Advanced breast cancer does not respond well to therapy. This is why prevention is more important than ever. Implementing healthy eating habits and understanding how your nutrition affects your body, reducing saturated fat consumption, avoiding alcohol and cigarettes, and exercising at least three to four times a week, is vital and will help you maintain a strong immune system.

And don't forget that a positive outlook is as important as your nutrition for your immune system to stay strong and your body to heal and repair all the damage that happens on cellular level long before any disease can be diagnosed.

By Dominique Allmon

*This information is for educational purpose only. It is not meant to diagnose or cure a disease.

How to Prevent Breast Cancer? by Dominique Allmon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.