Lifestyles that promote healthy breasts
- Maintain a healthy weight. There’s a clear link between obesity — weighing more than is appropriate for your age and height — and breast cancer. The association is stronger if you gain the weight later in life, particularly after menopause.
- Avoid long-term hormone therapy. The link between postmenopausal hormone therapy and breast cancer has been a subject of debate for years, partly because research results have been mixed. Estrogen exposure clearly contributes to breast cancer risk, but for most women, the size of the contribution over a lifetime is small — particularly in the absence of other risk factors, such as family history of the disease. If you’re approaching menopause and having frequent symptoms, it’s probably safe to take hormones for as long as four to five years. Any longer does increase your breast cancer risk, without conferring any clear benefits. The same is true of hormone therapy after age 60.
- Stay physically active. No matter what your age, aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise on most days. Try to include weight-bearing exercises such as walking, jogging or dancing. These have the added benefit of keeping your bones strong.
- Eat foods high in fiber. Try to increase the amount of fiber you eat to between 20 and 30 grams daily — about twice that in an average American diet. Among its many health benefits, fiber may help reduce the amount of circulating estrogen in your body. Foods high in fiber include fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains.
- Emphasize olive oil. Oleic acid, the main component of olive oil, appears both to suppress the action of the most important oncogene in breast cancer and to increase the effectiveness of the drug Herceptin.
- Avoid exposure to pesticides. The molecular structure of some pesticides closely resembles that of estrogen. This means they may attach to receptor sites in your body. Although studies have not found a definite link between most pesticides and breast cancer, it is known that women with elevated levels of pesticides in their breast tissue have a greater breast cancer risk.
- Limit alcohol. Drinking alcohol is strongly linked to breast cancer. The type of alcohol consumed — wine, beer or mixed drinks — seems to make no difference. To help protect against breast cancer, limit the amount of alcohol you drink to less than one drink a day or avoid alcohol completely.
- Massage breasts and lymphatic areas daily.
New research
Scientists are investigating a number of potential preventive therapies for breast cancer, including:
- Retinoids. Natural or synthetic forms of vitamin A (retinoids) may have the ability to destroy or inhibit the growth of cancer cells. Unlike other experimental therapies, retinoids may be effective in premenopausal women and in those whose tumors aren’t estrogen positive. Research is ongoing.
- Flaxseed. Flaxseed is high in lignan, a naturally occurring compound that lowers circulating estrogens in your body. Flaxseed appears to decrease estrogen production — acting much like tamoxifen does — which may inhibit the growth of breast cancer tumors. Lignans are also antioxidants with weak estrogen-like characteristics. These characteristics may be the mechanism by which flaxseed works to decrease hot flashes. Further research should clarify the connection.