Breast Cancer: Seize Your Power, Change Your Risk

A diagnosis of breast cancer strikes fear in the heart of every woman, and with the lifetime breast cancer rate now approaching one in seven American females, the real possibility of getting breast cancer looms with nagging malaise in every woman’s mind.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in the world, killing approximately 400,000 women annually. According to the American Cancer Society 2007-2008 Cancer Facts & Figures, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women in the United States, and the second leading cause of cancer death. This year alone, about 240,000 US women will be diagnosed with the disease, and of those already diagnosed, about 40,000 are expected to die.

When I began my career in cancer education in the 1970’s, the chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer during one’s lifetime was one in 13 or one in 12; by the 1980’s it was one in 10; by the 1990’s it was one in eight; and according to Dr. Kirby Bland of the American College of Surgeons, the figure is projected to move closer to one in six before long.

This sad trend towards inevitability leaves many women feeling quite powerless. Most “prevention” programs (regular mammograms, breast self exams, and physician check-ups) are nothing more than early detection programs -- better than late detection, but certainly not true prevention.

Furthermore, with the discovery in 1994 of the BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 genes, genetic testing -- the newest tool in the breast cancer prevention arsenal -- has pushed those found to be gene-carriers into panic with more intense monitoring, chemoprevention drug therapy, and/or prophylactic surgery to remove the breasts as a preventive. For many women, these options are not particularly attractive, nor do they totally remove the risk.

The classical risk factors for breast cancer, which are largely based on increased estrogen exposure, include female gender (males also get breast cancer), age, family history, early onset of menses, late menopause, no childbirths or childbirth after age 30, obesity, as well as the breast cancer genes. In actuality, genes are responsible for only five to eight percent of breast cancers, and all classically recognized risk factors (other than being female) account for only 20 to 25 percent of breast cancers diagnosed in the US (Dr. Jerome Levy, Your Breasts, Dr. Susan Love, Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book).

My experience at the Center for Advancement in Cancer Education has also proven these figures to be accurate. Among the 10,000 or so women with diagnosed breast cancer who have contacted us over the last 30 years, only a small percentage had a family history or genetic predisposition. So we began interviewing these women, looking for other common denominators that might explain their disease. I and other cancer counselors at the Center have worked very closely with thousands of these women, reviewing and assessing risk factors to see what new information could empower them to make a difference in disease outcome by addressing its causes. Amazingly, we uncovered another two dozen risk factors that nearly all of these women had in common!

Focusing merely on classical risk factors is disempowering anyway, since you can’t do anything about most of them: You can’t change your gender, when you were born, the family you were born into, your menstrual history, whether or not you gave birth, and at what age if you did. That’s the bad news. The good news is that you don’t have to! Volumes of scientific research on diet, stress, exercise and environmental factors suggests -- and our clients have confirmed -- that most breast cancer diagnoses may well be attributable to lifestyle choices -- and those you CAN do something about. Your ability to stay well or get well lies largely in your hands, and that is a very empowering message!

In honor of “Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” I’ve created the Beat Breast Cancer Kit, based on my 30 years of experience helping more than 10,000 women with breast cancer and over 10,000 prevention-seekers. The life-changing information provided in this kit is based on published scientific research on effective nutritional, immune-enhancing and non-toxic strategies for preventing breast cancer, preventing its recurrence and even helping to reverse the disease.

Research demonstrates that diet has a major impact on the development and progression of breast cancer and much of that information comes from studies of Asian women. The China Oxford Cornell Diet and Health Project, for example, concluded that the introduction of the western diet is responsible for recent increases in breast cancer rates in China. The US National Cancer Institute estimates that 70 percent of all breast cancer deaths are avoidable through dietary change. Scientific research published in hundreds of biomedical journals worldwide has demonstrated dramatic ways in which dietary choices can affect your risk of breast cancer -- by influencing not only genetic expression, but also hormone levels and immune function.

Other research in the well-documented field of psychoneuroimmunology has pointed to the mind-body-spirit connection and to psychological factors influencing breast cancer risk in particular. Changing our ways of coping with stress, choosing which stressors we reject and which ones we hold on to, and learning to modify specific aspects of our personalities can play a major role in influencing our susceptibility to breast cancer or its recurrence and even our ability to reverse the disease.

As I mentioned, there are many lifestyle factors that contribute to cancer risk -- and diet and stress management are not by any means the only ones -- but changing what you’re eating and what’s eating you is a tall enough order -- and, for many of our readers, all you’ll ever need!

For two F*R*E*E reports on “The Four Nutrition Secrets” and “The Holistic Approach to Cancer” as well as information about the Center for Advancement in Cancer Education and the new Beat Breast Cancer Kit, visit www.beatcancerkit.com.