Breast cancer prevention factors consist in two main
groups: one related to general advice on CANCER prevention and the other
directly connected with issues that may prevent BREAST CANCER. Cancer prevention
represents the events that can be taken to lower the chance of getting
cancer.
Experts have prepared particular projects based on the study of
risk factors and prospective factors to decrease the chance of suffering from
cancer. Some risks of cancer can be avoided by coping with healthier habits.
Others have not been managed until now because they are related to gene
inheritance patterns.
If we refer to prevention
facts that can be taken to specifically prevent BREAST CANCER, we can mention
that lower age of first childbirth (less than 24 years maternal age), having
more children (about 7% lowered risk per child), and breastfeeding (4% per
breastfeeding year), with an average relative risk around 0.7 have all been
shown to lowered BREAST CANCER risk in large clinical studies.
Additionally,
phytoestrogens found in many natural foods such as soybeans have been
extensively assessed in animal and human in-vitro and epidemiological clinical
studies. Results obtained in these studies support the following
conclusions:
Plant estrogen intake such
as from soy products in early adolescence can provide protection against breast
cancer during other life stages. On the other hand, the same intake later in
life is though not to have any influence breast cancer incidence.
In a study carried
out on about 17,000 women showed that those who consumed folic acid
(folate) 40 grams of alcohol (about 3-4 drinks) had a higher risk of suffering
from breast cancer. However, women who take 200 micrograms of folate (folic acid
or Vitamin B9) every day, the risk lowered up to similar levels of those found
in alcohol abstainers. Therefore, results obtained in this study confirm the
benefit of folate intake to counteract BREAST CANCER risk connected with alcohol
consumption. Besides, other studies have also confirmed that diets low in folate
can increase risk of pancreatic, and colon cancer. Citrus fruits, citrus juices,
dark green leafy vegetables (such as spinach), dried beans, and peas are foods
rich in folate.
It is considered that
breathing secondhand smoke increases breast cancer risk by 70% in younger,
primarily pre-menopausal women. The California Environmental Protection Agency
has released some reports, which explain that passive smoking causes breast
cancer and the US Surgeon General has concluded that the evidence is
"suggestive," one step below causal. Being exposure to tobacco smoke between
puberty and first child may be more problematic, according to some evidence
collected during clinical studies. The main cause for this statement is that
breast tissue appears most sensitive to chemical carcinogens in this phase is
that breast cells are not fully differentiated until lactation.
Prophylactic oophorectomy
(removal of ovaries), in high-risk patients, when child-bearing is complete,
considerably decreases the risk of developing breast cancer by 60%, as well as
reducing the risk of developing OVARIAN CANCER by 96%.
In
2002, a clinical practice guideline issued by US Preventive Services Task Force
(USPSTF) suggested that clinicians discuss chemoprevention with women at high
risk for breast cancer and at low risk for adverse effects of chemoprevention
with a grade B recommendation.
We can face our life in
different ways but if we live an organized life full of healthy habits, we will
have less possibilities of suffering from breast cancer.
