Breast Cancer in the Modern World
Mammograms and thermal imaging are great tools to aid in the detection of breast cancer, but they only find a problem after it has begun and they do nothing to detect the risks before the disease begins to manifest itself. It is obvious that waiting until a problem develops before trying to address it is one of the reasons why so many people die of cancer. It is possible to determine your risk of developing breast cancer and therefore to make intelligent diet, lifestyle, and nutritional changes that may reduce the likelihood of manifestation.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the U.S. accounting for 32 percent of all female cancers. Breast cancer is responsible for 18 percent of cancer deaths in women, and is second only to lung cancer as the cause of death from cancer among American women. In the year 2001 an estimated 192,200 women were diagnosed and 40,600 of these women died from the disease. The older woman has greater chances of developing breast cancer, with approximately 77 percent of the cases occurring in women over 50 years of age. Caucasian, Hawaiian and African-American women have the highest incidence of invasive breast cancer, four times higher than the lowest group including Korean, American Indian and Vietnamese women.
Cancer develops at a cellular level for years or decades before a tumor is large enough to be identified using modern imaging techniques. While genetics point to breast cancer potential, the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 seem to be implicated in only three to five percent of breast cancers. With the acceleration of the onset of menstruation from 16.5 years old in 1842 to 13 years in 1995 to 11 or 12 years in the year 2003 parallels an increase in breast cancer onset later in life. The Shanghai Breast Cancer Study showed that women who exercised during adolesence and adulthood experience a 40% reduction of breast cancer incidence. Researchers reported two factors that increase risk of developing breast cancer being increased abdominal body fat distribution and increased weight at age 30. Endrocine disruptors can be synthetic or natural estrogens that act on the endrocine system by mimicking, blocking, or interfering in the natural instructions of hormones to cells. Well-known endrocine disrupters are the drug DES, dioxin, PCBs, DDT, pesticides, and plasticizers. It was also reported in 2003 that women with Type II diabetes are 17 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than those without.
Sources of estrogen as as risk to cancer include endogenous formation from inside the body, xenobiotics from environmental toxins, and hormone replacement therapy. In every case whether one takes it or makes it, the body must metabolize it, and this requires a healthy liver capable of methylation processes in Phase I and Phase II liver detoxification. Famous studies indicate that breast cancer is vastly increased in countries where increased milk production per capita is low, the highest of which is in the Americas, while Japan has the lowest incidence of breast cancer with the least milk production per person. Thyroid metabolism when reduced has also been shown to negatively influence the metabolism of estrogen.
The cruciferous vegetables that promote the production of methyl groups formed in the digestive tract assist in the detoxification and reduction of estrogen to healthy metabolites. Studies show a significant reduction in the risk of breast cancer with regular comsumption of brassica (cruciferous) vegetables which include brussel sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, kale and turnips. Calcium d-glucarate and DIM(di-indole methinone) as supplementation can be employed to reduce the Beta Gluco-uronidase from building up in the intestine which has been associated with an increase in cancer.
In summary to reduce the risks of breast cancers simply reduce carbohydrates to stabilize insulin levels, eliminate dairy, reduce red meat and alcohol consumption, increase fiber, increase brassica vegetables, increase exercise, and reduce exposure to xeno-estrogens. It is possible to change the outcome of cancer by understanding what created it. Do not wait for a lump to go bump in the night to awaken to all that can be done to support the health and well-being that may actually prevent all this form and potentially all forms of cancer.