Anti-breast Cancer Living

Block the estrogen receptors in your breasts by eating foods high in soy (soy nuts, tofu, soy milk) or flaxseeds. Buy whole flaxseeds, grind them and blend them into orange juice, yogurt, salads, etc. Soy and flaxseed contain "weak" estrogens that lock onto the estrogen receptors and displace much stronger estrogens. Chinese women, who eat far more soy than American women, have 80% less breast cancer. And flaxseed is so potent that researchers now use it to shrink tumors between diagnosis and surgery. The recommended doses are 35-60 grams of soy or 25 grams of flaxseed a day.

Eat healthier fats. Avoid omega-6 fats, or the polyunsaturated fats found in most vegetable oils and margarine. A recent study reported that polyunsaturated fat increases a women's risk of breast cancer by 69%. Include in your diet small amounts of "healthy" fats, omega-3 and omega-9 fats. Omega-3 fats are found in fish oil (salmon is a good source); omega-9 fats, in olive oil.

Make good estrogen by eating cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. Cruciferous vegetables have an ingredient called indole-3carbinol, which channels the breakdown products of estrogen into more "good" than "bad" estrogens.

Lower your insulin level. A university of Toronto study found a 283% higher risk of breast cancer in women with high insulin levels. To lower your insulin level, avoid saturated fats that increase insulin resistance, decrease upper-body density by losing weight and decrease your glucose load by eating foods that generate a small rise in blood sugar, such as peas, beans, yogurt, and fruits such as apples and pears.

Eat more fiber. Fiber interrupts most steps of the estrogen pathway. Strive for 35-60 grams of fiber a day-beans and high-fiber breakfast cereals are a good source-but increase the fiber in your diet slowly.

Limit your drinking. Alcohol elevates total estrogen levels; the more you drink the higher your risk of breast cancer.

Exercise. Try to get within 12 pounds of your ideal weight with four or more hours of vigorous exercise a week. Both weight management and exercise can produce highly significant decreases in your risk of breast cancer.

Remember, food is a lot kinder to your body than drugs-and can contain everything you need to stop a cancer before it starts.

New therapies offer hope

Several promising new therapies for breast cancer have been announced in recent months. None is being touted as a cure, and some need more testing to confirm their effectiveness. Yet taken together, experts say, they represent a major step forward in the battle against breast cancer. Here are some of the drugs receiving the most attention:

Tamoxifen: Researchers are hailing tamoxifen as the first drug known to prevent breast cancer. In April, federal health officials announced that, in a four-year study of more than 13,000 women at high risk of breast cancer, those that took tamoxifen had a 45 percent lower risk of cancer than those who took a placebo. And earlier this month, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel recommended that the drug be taken by healthy women whose family history puts them at high risk of getting breast cancer. Tamoxifen's downside? It raises the risk of uterine cancer, cataracts and blood clots. But those side effects are rare.
Xeloda: Also in April, the FDA gave accelerated approval to xeloda, a drug used to treat advanced breast cancer tumors that don't respond to chemotherapy. The FDA acted after a study showed the drug shrank tumors by more than half in about one in five women who took it.
Raloxifene: Just a month after tamoxifen made news, researchers at the University of California-San Francisco announced that its cousin, raloxifene, prevents breast cancer in post-menopausal women. Their two-year clinical trial of more than 7,700 women found that those who took raloxifene lowered their cancer risk by two-thirds. Ironically, federal officials approved raloxifene only last December-for osteoporosis.
Taxol: Doctors announced in May that adding taxol to the standard regimen of chemotherapy drugs following breast cancer surgery increased survival rates by 26%. Taxol also reduced the risk of cancer recurrence by 22%. The results came from a clinical trial involving more than 3,100 women and hundreds of medical institutions.

More breast cancer news:

Green tea may inhibit recurrence
Drinking green tea seems to reduce the severity of breast cancer, say Japanese researchers at the Saitama Cancer Center Research Institute. In women under-going breast cancer surgery, cancer spread to the lymph nodes was less frequent in heavy consumers of green tea, they found. Further, researchers followed 472 patients for seven years. Women with smaller, less aggressive breast cancers who drank more than five cups of green tea a day were 50 percent less likely to have a recurrence then women drinking less than four cups daily. Thus, green tea appeared to improve prognosis and survival by suppressing the spread and growth of breast cancer.

Milk in tea boosts antioxidants
Some say adding milk, as the British do, wipes out tea's antioxidant disease-fighting properties. But Dr. John Weisburger of the American Health Foundation found that a little milk actually boosts protection against breast and colon cancer in animals. But lots of milk abolished tea's anti-cancer effects. Weisburger figures a couple of teaspoons of milk in an 8-ounce cup of tea increases anti-cancer activity. More milk or cream can neutralize tea's benefits.

News Flash: Children breast-fed as infants have about half the chance of having a respiratory illness as do bottle-fed babies, according to British researchers.

Breast Self-Exams Can Save Your Life

Once each month, make them a part of your shower routine.

My doctor is always reminding me about the importance of doing a breast self-exam once a month-but the months go by and I hardly ever do one. Is the exam really that important in fighting breast cancer?

Yes! According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer kills an estimated 46,000 women every year. That's the bad news. The good news is that the disease is highly curable if it's caught early. Regular self-examination of your breasts is the best way to catch problems.

Women find most breast lumps themselves. While about 75 percent of all lumps are not cancerous, it's best to find them, get then checked out by your provider and be safe rather then sorry.

By taking a few minutes each month to check your breasts, you will become familiar with how they feel and skilled at identifying changes. It's helpful to make a note or two about your findings each month and even bring your notes to doctor appointments.

Call your provider if you have any concerns between appointments. In addition to breast self-exam, we recommend that women have their provider examine their breasts as a part of a regular well-women exam. Beginning at age 40, a mammogram is generally recommended every one or two years. Talk to your provider about a schedule that's right for you.

For More Information:
Cancer Information Service (National Cancer Institute) 1-800-4-CANCER
Oncolink-Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer Network-American Cancer Society
CancerNet (National Cancer Institute)
Doctor's Guide to Breast Cancer Information and Resources
BreastCancerInfo.com
National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations
Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization
National Action Plan on Breast Cancer
National Breast Cancer Coalition