Breast Cancer Prevention

Breast Cancer Prevention is the only reliable way to treat breast cancer. Science and medicine have yet to find a practical cure other than surgery, although humanity has been made aware of breast cancer as a disease even since ancient times. The Egyptians were the first to discover this condition, marking it as “untreatable”.

Roughly, 3000 years later, we still don’t have an answer to all the questions that are brought up by breast cancer and even surgery has its risks and is a radical method that could have unpleasant side effects, not to mention the fact that it’s not always 100% efficient.

Foods

Let’s start with what we eat. Our diet has a huge part in determining whether we risk getting breast cancer. Moreover, by diet, I’m not only referring to food, but to drinking and smoking too. Alcohol has been proven to have an encouraging effect for the cancerous cells that produce the breast tumor and studies show that a woman drinking a glass of wine each day will have an augmented chance of getting breast cancer than one who doesn’t.

Alcohol

The risk goes up with the amount of alcohol that one consumes on a daily basis, heavy drinkers being more likely to developing the cancerous cells than “casual” drinkers. Although the numbers cannot be consistently tested, statistics show that women that drink alcohol have a 10% increased chance of getting breast cancer than those who don’t drink at all. This, of course, does not mean that you can’t have a beer or a glass of wine at dinner occasionally; just doesn’t make it a habit.

Smoking

On the same extent, smoking will grant you a higher chance of getting breast cancer. Smoking, in general, is known to be a major cause for lung cancer, however it’s been proven that it has almost equally negative effects when it comes to breast cancer too. The majority of women suffering from breast cancer are either active or passive smokers, so the link between them is obvious, although from a medical point of view, the evidence is not quite as clear. Still, quitting smoking and drinking will give you a good chance of avoiding breast cancer at older ages.

A few other proven causes of the disease include having an abortion (some institutions say that the risk of breast cancer is increased by almost 250% in such a case), taking birth control pills and other hormonal (estrogen) manipulating medications. All these factors are easily preventable, although you and your partner might have to make a few sacrifices along the way. However, considering your own life is at stake, these sacrifices will be well worth it.

This said, it should be noted that breast cancer might come into view even though you took all the above-mentioned precautions. Sometimes, the cause of breast cancer is simply ageing and to avoid that there’s little you can do. Still, even if quitting smoking, drinking or finding an alternative method to the birth control pill can decrease your chances of getting breast cancer, the effort is well worth it, since the stake is none other than your own personal health and ultimately, your life.