Knowing Your Breast Cancer Risk Factors May Help You Prevent The Disease

It is important that the African American community becomes more educated about breast cancer because many lives may be saved once we become more knowledgable about the disease. This page is dedicated to a friend of ours (LK this page is for you!) who is surviving and thriving after her battle with breast cancer.

What Is Estrogen And What Is It's Function In The Human Body?

Humans naturally produce three major forms of estrogen - estriol, estrone, and estradiol. Estrogen rises in puberty to allow for the development female sex organs, breasts, monthly cycles and pregnancy. One key role of estrogen is to control the growth and function of the uterus specifically the lining of the uterus.

In general, estrogen promotes cell growth of the tissues responsible for female reproduction. Since estrogen tends to promote cell growth excessive quantities make it a dangerous potential promoter of cancer.

Breast Cancer Risk Factors

There are many breast cancer risk factors, some have solid research to prove their existence while others are still being studied. We have put together a list of these breast cancer risk factors based on what reseachers currently assert.

Age - There is an increasing risk of breast cancer for women in their mid-thirties to mid-forties (premenopausal). The initial stages of breast cancer is commonly detected about five years or more before menopause. This time frame is well before estrogen levels fall but it appears coincide a decrease in progesterone (a sex hormone that that seems to act as a counter balance to estrogen).

The rate of increase for breast cancer drops substantially after menopause. However, the longer you live the greater the chance that you may develop this disease. As you age the body's immune system becomes less effective, plus gene mutations build up over time. Fat in your breast tissue can be more dangerous at 60 than at 25 because you have had more time accumulate and hold onto toxins inside the fat tissue of your breast.

Race - Asian women, whether the country is industrialized or not, have lower rates of breast cancer than North American or European women. Although this changes within two generations if the Asian woman moves to North American.

Geography - There has been research that has shown that women in industrialized countries have a higher rate of breast cancer than women in less industrialized countries. Dr. Peter Ellison of Harvard asserts women in indutrialized countries have substantially higher hormone levels. Dr Ellson believes that women in more developed countries consume more junk food and are less active, thus they are more likely to have elevated hormone levels.

Removal of the Ovaries - The ovaries are the main source of a woman's hormones. If they are removed it causes the woman to go into instant menopause and there is a severe drop in hormones. This actually significantly reduces the risk of breast cancer if you are less than 40, but there is an increased risk of heart disease and osteoporosis (bone brittleness).

For women under 40 removing the ovaries is not considered a viable option for breast cancer prevention.

Painful and lumpy breasts - There is much controversy surrounding this area of breast cancer risk factors. Presently, it's clear that if your biopsy report says "severe atypical epithelial hyperplasia" there is a great cause for concern. This means the extra rapid division of cells (hyperplasia) is a signal that cancerous changes are occuring. It also means that you have an increased risk of getting breast cancer.

However, it's less clear what the cancer risks are for you if you have painful lumpy breasts just before your menstrual cycle or if you have benign cysts and chronically lumpy breasts. some scientists believe that since these conditions are caused by estrogen dominance, they should be considered breast cancer risk factors.

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) - For many years all women 50 and older were either prescribed estrogen or estrogen and progestin if she had a uterus. Normally hormone levels were not checked to see if HRT was even needed.

Newer studies have shown that HRT does little to prevent heart disease and it does increse the risk of breast cancer. Doctors are now being more cautious when prescribing HRT.

Diet - There is some research that suggests that women living in countries that eat more fat and consume more calories have a higher incidence of breast cancer. The theory is that the more calories leads to greater tissue damage, which results in higher rates of cancer. The evidence for this is not strong and this is still one of the more controversial breast cancer risk factors at best.

Dr. Paul Ellison of Harvard theorizes that higher caloric intake plus lack of exercise may create hormonal issues that will result in cancer. Obesity has been linked to breast cancer. Women with more fat content produce more estrogen, thus more estrogen will be present when she passes menopause.

Exercise - There have been many studies the suggest that moderate exercise helps to reduce your cancer risk, breast cancer is no exception. The Harvard Nurses' Health Study, analysed data from nearly 170,000 women and found that those women who engaged in moderate exercise for 7 or more hours per week lowered their breast cancer risk by almost 20%. As compared to women who exercised 1 hour per week or less.

It's important to note that women in the study performed MODERATE execise. Overly vigorous exercise strains the immune system and substantially increases the body's oxidation rate. Therefore, doing continuous strenuous exercise may put you at greater risk for breast cancer over the long term. The same Harvard Nurses study found that more frequent exercise sessions were more beneficial that more strenuous sessions.

Pregnancy A woman who has a child after age 30 has a five times greater chance of developing breast cancer than a woman who becomes pregnant before age 24. It is thought that the hormones of pregnancy and lactation have a protective effect on the breast tissue. This protective effect only occurs in full term pregnancies. Women who have never had children are at greater risk for breast cancer than those who have had one or more children.

Antiperspirants and Bras - Science has not been able to link wearing underwire bras and using deoderant as cancer causes, but blocking the circulation to the lymph glands and preventing sweating with chemicals may eventually have some kind of long term effect.

Hazards in The Workplace - It can be hard to prove that there is a hazardous condition on the job. A Swedish study suggests women who are in occupations that expose them to electromagnetic fields (EMF), hair dyes, heavy metals and solvents, are at greater risk for developing breast cancer.

Alcohol - If you have more than one drink or alcohol per day you are at greater risk of developing breast cancer. Alcohol consumption stresses the liver and reduces it's capacity to effectively remove estrogens from the body. It's better to eat before drinking this way you can still have your glass of red wine for dinner.

as research continues to develop we will continue add more breast cancer risk factors

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