Breast Cancer Myths And Facts

Making healthy lifestyle choices such as eating a low fat diet that is high in fruits, veggies and grains, exercising regularly and limiting alcohol may reduce your breast cancer risk.

More than 90% of breast cancers are diagnosed in women who do not have a family history of the disease. Being a woman and getting older are the two biggest risk factors.

Most abnormalities in your breast are not breast cancer, however you should speak to your doctor immediately if you notice any changes. 8/10 lumps are not cancerous.

Maintaining a healthy body weight can reduce your risk for breast cancer. This is particularly important for post-menopausal women.

The longer you breastfeed your baby, the better. Breastfeeding lowers your lifetime exposure to estrogen – when you are nursing you don’t ovulate.
Breast tissue is shed during lactation and for mature cells, there’s programmed cell death. Both decrease cancer risk as cells with potential DNA damage are shed or die.

If you smoke, quit. If you don’t smoke, don’t start. There are over 50 carcinogens in one cigarette and more than 20 of those are “mammary” carcinogens. The risk includes exposure to second hand smoke.

The radiation dose of a mammogram has a one-in-a-million chance of causing a breast cancer. Remember – mammography can decrease the risk of dying from breast cancer by 40%. Digital units have even less radiation.

Some women experience discomfort during a mammogram. To lessen the discomfort, schedule your mammogram during the first two weeks after your period, avoid coffee the week before and take a Tylenol one hour before your mammogram.

Although diagnosed less often, approximately 1% of people diagnosed with breast cancer are men.

There is no scientic evidence that deodorants or antiperspirants cause breast cancer. If you are still worried about this possibility there are a number of natural products you can use instead.