Women who have had an abortion are up to twice as likely to develop breast cancer, according to a British study. Breast cancer prevention is a must. What do you have to do?
A healthful diet, regular physical exercise, appropriate sun exposure or oral supplements to optimize your vitamin D levels, and an effective means of managing your emotional health are the cornerstones of just about any cancer prevention program, including breast cancer.
Regular physical activity has been shown to decrease the likelihood of developing breast cancer, as well as decreasing your chances of dying from it by 50 percent, once diagnosed.
It is also important to watch out for excessive iron levels. Elevated iron is actually quite common once women stop menstruating. The extra iron works as a powerful oxidant, increasing free radicals in your body and thereby increasing your risk of cancer.
The best way to monitor your iron is to have your ferritin level drawn. Ferritin is the iron transport protein and should not be above 80. If yours is elevated, you can reduce it simply by donating your blood.
The following lifestyle strategies will help you to further lower your breast cancer risk:
Optimize your vitamin D. Vitamin D influences virtually every cell in your body and is one of nature’s most potent cancer fighters. This is one of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself from cancer.
Vitamin D is actually able to enter cancer cells and trigger apoptosis (cell death). When JoEllen Welsh, a researcher with the State University of New York at Albany, injected a potent form of vitamin D into human breast cancer cells, half of them shriveled up and died within days! The vitamin D worked as well at killing cancer cells as the toxic breast cancer drug Tamoxifen, without any of the detrimental side effects and at a tiny fraction of the cost.
If you have cancer, your vitamin D level should be between 70 and 100 ng/ml. Vitamin D works synergistically with every cancer treatment I’m aware of, with no adverse effects.
Get plenty of natural vitamin A. There is evidence that vitamin A also plays a roll in preventing breast cancer. It’s best to obtain it from vitamin A rich foods, rather than a supplement. Your best sources are organic egg yolks, raw butter, raw whole milk, and beef or chicken liver.
However, beware of supplementing as there’s some evidence that vitamin A can negate the benefits of vitamin D. Since appropriate vitamin D levels are crucial for your health in general, not to mention cancer prevention, this means that it’s essential to have the proper ratio of vitamin D to vitamin A in your body.
Ideally, you’ll want to provide all the vitamin A and vitamin D substrate your body needs in such a way that your body can regulate both systems naturally. This is best done by eating colorful vegetables (for vitamin A) and by exposing your skin to sun every day (for vitamin D).
Avoid charring your meats. Charcoal or flame broiled meat is linked with increased breast cancer risk. Acrylamide—a carcinogen created when starchy foods are baked, roasted or fried—has been found to increase breast cancer risk as well.
Avoid unfermented soy products. Unfermented soy is high in plant estrogens, or phytoestrogens, also known as isoflavones. In some studies, soy appears to work in concert with human estrogen to increase breast cell proliferation, which increases the chances for mutations and cancerous cells.
Improve Your Insulin Receptor Sensitivity. The best way to do this is with exercise and a diet comprised of foods appropriate for your nutritional type.
Maintain a healthy body weight. This will come naturally when you begin eating right for your nutritional type and exercising. It’s important to lose excess body fat because fat produces estrogen.
Get plenty of high quality animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil. Omega-3 deficiency is a common underlying factor for cancer.
Curcumin. This is the active ingredient in turmeric and in high concentrations can be very useful in the treatment of breast cancer. Concern must be addressed with the solubility though as it is not well absorbed. However it does show great therapeutic potential in preventing breast cancer metastasis.
Avoid drinking alcohol, or at least limit your alcoholic drinks to one per day.
Breastfeed exclusively for up to six months. Research shows this will reduce your breast cancer risk.
Avoid wearing underwire bras. There is a good deal of data that metal underwire bras increase your breast cancer risk.
Avoid electromagnetic fields as much as possible. Even electric blankets can increase your cancer risk.
The following is a list of various factors that have been scientifically found to impact breast cancer in one way or another. Many are isolated studies that offer food for thought and open up potential avenues for future research.
Depression can influence breast cancer survival. Women whose depression lifts in the first year after being told they have advanced breast cancer outlive by more than two years those whose depression symptoms worsened.
SSRIs (a category of antidepressant drug) are associated with increased breast cancer risk.
CoQ10 http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/coenzymeQ10/Patient appears to be another useful tool. Ubiquinol would be the preferred form as it works better than the oxidized CoQ10.
Black cohosh shows promise in fighting breast cancer by inducing apoptosis in human breast cancer cells.
Artemisinin (a compound in wormwood) has been shown to be toxic to human breast cancer cells.
Foods that have a scientific basis for fighting breast cancer include kelp, spicy foods, cruciferous vegetables (especially broccoli), and evening primrose oil.
Three cups of tea daily may slash your breast cancer risk by 50 percent.
If you eat a poor diet, it can cause DNA changes that may increase your daughters’ and granddaughters’ risk of breast cancer.
Antiperspirants can increase your breast cancer risk due to their toxic metals, such as aluminum, which influence estrogen activity.
Too much light at night was found to increase breast cancer by inhibiting melatonin in a study by the American National Cancer Institute.
Women who have had an abortion are up to twice as likely to develop breast cancer, according to a British study.
In the event that you are diagnosed with DCIS or another form of early stage breast cancer, always get a second—and possibly third and fourth—opinion. I cannot stress this enough, since the false positive rates are just too high and the diagnostic criteria too subjective.
Before you make any decision on treatment—and definitely before you decide to have surgery or chemotherapy—make sure your biopsy results have been reviewed by a breast specialist who is knowledgeable and experienced in that field.
The majority of breast cancer is preventable. But if you are hit with that diagnosis, don’t lose hope! There is a great deal you can do to harness your body’s own powerful healing abilities.
Thank you and stay safe!
Raphael Nyarkotey Obu: PhD(A. M) is a Research Professor of Prostate Cancer and Holistic Medicine at Da Vinci College of Holistic Medicine, Cyprus and the Director of Men’s Health Foundation Ghana & Nigeria Chapter
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