Breast Cancer Prevention Options 

                                                                  
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies. It develops in three quarters of cases in women over 50 years. It is the leading cause of death in women between 35 and 65 years. Any woman can be affected by this disease regardless of social class or financial status, without distinction. Breast cancer is undoubtedlythe most common medical condition feared by women. 

Although there is treatment, healing is not easy. Therefore, the wise decision is to prevent it from occurring in the first place. Discover the best breast cancer prevention tips established by medical professionals: 

1)Avoiding Excess Weight - Obesity increases the risk of many diseases, including breast cancer. The risk is even higher after menopause, the time of life when breast cancer most often occurs. The best prevention is having a healthy weight before menopause and keeping it thereafter. Although there are plenty diets out there, the best way to have a normal weight is to exercise regularly and eat a plant-based diet to avoid gaining weight and maintain a body mass index below 25.  

2) Having Healthy EatingHabits – this can help prevent not only breast cancer but also many other diseases that blight the lives of women all over the world. Adopt a diet rich in NON-GMO (Stay Away from GMO Foods) fruits and vegetables and low in refined Sugar-sweetened beverages, refined carbohydrates and processed

foods. Eat mostly vegetable based proteins. Avoid eating red meat and pork meat. Choose vegetable oils, such as hemp oil, instead of animal fats.  

NOTE : although commonly recommended to cancer patients, Ensure and Boost have plenty of refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Please check the label for ingredients.  

3)Exercising Regularly - many studies suggest that increased physical activity (at least 5 times a week) reduces the overall risk of almost all cancers. It reduces breast cancer by about up to 30 percent. A moderate exercise such as walking 30 to 45 minutes, five days a week, Provide all protective effects a women need to help her keep the tumor away.  

4)Avoiding Drinking Alcohol - Despite misinformation, there is no health benefits in alcohol consumption. Alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of many cancers, including breast cancer. Women need to limit or avoid them completely, regardless of the type of alcohol.  

5) Stopping Smoking- Who smoke die early, they say. Cigarette smokers die a decade earlier on average. “Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases (including emphysema, bronchitis, and chronic airway obstruction), and diabetes.” Tobacco is a legal poison; consumption, in whatever form, destroys the health of consumers and the people around them (second hand smokers). Research suggests that long-term smoking is associated with an increased breast cancer risk in women of all races. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, More than 16 million Americans suffer from a disease caused by smoking.¹ 

6)Practicing Breastfeeding - If you wear children, breastfeed your baby as long as possible. Women who breastfeed their babies for at least a year in total have a reduced risk of developing breast cancer later in life.  

7)Avoiding Hormone Replacement Therapy- It is shown in many studies that the hormone treatment of menopause increases the risk of breast cancer. There are effective ways to treat menopause symptoms that do not contain progesterone. "Bioidentical hormones" and hormonal creams and gels are no safer than prescription hormones and should also be avoided.  

8) Monitoring Regularly- Get regular screenings for breast cancer. Follow the advice of your doctor or health care provider to decide what type of testing you need and how often you need it.  

9) Practicing Safe Sex – several studies have shown the link between the decrease in the frequency of breast cancer among women who practice safe sex regularly. Although many reasons, such as pleasure of the coitus and the joy experienced thereafter, sexual intercourse may boost the immune system to help the body fight the tumor cells, certain hormones such as oxytocin seem to play major role. This powerful hormone of love would have a protective effect against the cells of the breasts and many other organs of the body. Other substances such as prostaglandins contained in semen, may also contribute to some protection. But these studies need to be taken with caution because researchers have yet to learn. 

10) Other Methods- Women who have a particular gene, such as BRCA, or have a family history or have had benign breast disease in the past, or at high risk, need to talk to their doctor about other breast cancer prevention options. 

References:  

1 - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014 [accessed 2014 Apr 24].

2 - World Health Organization. WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2011  . Geneva: World Health Organization, 2011 [accessed 2014 Apr 24].