When a normal cell mutates due to various factors (overweight, smoking …) "this mutated cell becomes a seed of cancer," explains Dr. Kristi Funk, specialist in breast cancer surgery, in her book Breasts (Ed Uranus). "From the ground in which the seeds of cancer will grow or not germinate, depends on whether this seed will sprout and become a cancer capable of destroying your life, or whether it will not."
How do you prevent this seed from taking root in your body? You have many resources at your fingertips, but the most important thing is to adopt a healthy lifestyle that makes your body a terrain in which the seeds of cancer cannot grow. Dr. Funk convinces us with the statistic: "Only 5 to 10% of breast cancers are hereditary," so more than genetics, it is how you live your life that helps you.
How we can prevent breast cancer
The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) emphasizes having a healthy weight, eating a balanced diet, avoiding tobacco and alcohol, exercising, and promoting breastfeeding.
1. Healthy weight
"Maintaining a healthy weight throughout your life can be one of the most important ways to protect yourself from cancer," notes the WCRF. And Dr. Funk is more restrictive saying that "if you are plump, your extra pounds can kill you."
Why? Breast cancer depends in part on the action of certain hormones on the breasts, especially estrogens, the female hormone par excellence. If estrogen levels skyrocket, they can affect breast cells and promote cancer development. Before menopause, most estrogens are produced by the ovaries; However, when the fertile stage ends, it is the body fat that generates them. This is why being at a healthy weight is so important.
2. Healthy eating
Not only the PREDIMED Mediterranean Diet Prevention study, but many others show that the Mediterranean diet is a useful pattern in the prevention of breast cancer. It is a diet that prioritizes fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, fish or olive oil; which is based on fresh food and cooking them in simple ways (stews, iron, steam …). In fact, home cooking is one of the recommendations of the different health institutions. The WCRF also asks to limit, and better eliminate, fast food and processed and ultra-processed food.As the nutritionist Carlos Ríos explains, "ultra-processed products are not acute toxic, but chronic unhealthy products", that is, they do not kill you when you eat them but "after months, years or even decades of consumption. They go on damaging our body until they trigger organic failures ”, like cancer.
3. Zero alcohol
The Spanish Association Against Cancer is very clear: "The appropriate amount of alcohol for cancer prevention is none" and, specifically speaking of breast cancer, "the consumption of small amounts of alcohol (only 10 g / day) is associated with an increased risk of this disease when drinking and non-drinking women are compared ”. To give you an idea, 10 g of alcohol is equivalent to a pint of beer or a glass of wine. The WCRF also recommends limiting sugar-rich drinks and juices, including homemade ones. All these drinks have a lot of free sugar and there is a clear relationship with being overweight and obesity, risk factors for cancer.
4. Three hours of sport weekly
According to the American Society for Clinical Oncology, "long-term studies show that women who engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity for more than 3 hours a week have a 30% to 40% lower risk of breast cancer" . A moderate activity would be to walk at a good pace, being able to speak but in a choppy way, swimming, cycling, ballroom dancing …
Instead, energetic activities would be running, fast swimming, indoor cycling classes, team sports, rope jumping, etc. This institution not only recommends doing sports, but also leading an active life by walking to places, doing housework and avoiding sitting for a long time, especially in our free time.
5. If you can, breastfeeding
Various investigations have reached the same conclusion: breastfeeding protects the mother against breast cancer and the baby against cancer in general, because it prevents overweight and obesity. The WCRF recommends exclusively feeding your baby breast milk up to 6 months and combining it with other foods up to 2 years.
6. Less exposure to toxic substances
Pollution, pesticides, radiation, certain plastics … all this can affect the health of the chest and we cannot always avoid it. Dr. Funk proposes not to obsess and apply some basic rules in our day to day, such as washing our hands frequently; remove dust and vacuum regularly because dust contains many chemicals; prioritize glass over plastic when we talk about food; use ecological cleaning products and grow indoor plants to filter the air at home (ficus, gerberas …).
7. Self-examination of the breasts
According to certain scientific associations, self-examination does not improve mortality from breast cancer, but, as Dr. Funk explains, many women have detected a lump or have seen that something was not right when exploring and that has led them to consult a doctor . Nobody knows your breasts like you, and if when exploring yourself you have the possibility of detecting suspicious changes, why not take advantage of it?
8. Annual visit to the gynecologist and routine tests
If there is no family history to the contrary, an annual visit to the gynecologist is sufficient. And surely the doctor will recommend doing an annual or biannual mammogram from the age of 40. It is true that this has its detractors because it can lead to false positives and unnecessary biopsies, but as Dr. Funk explains, "don't let the fear of false positives prevent you from detecting a curable cancer."
9. Beware of hormonal treatments
The US National Cancer Institute recognizes that there is a slightly increased risk of breast cancer if you take oral contraceptives, especially the "triphasic" pill. And the AECC only recommends the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in very few cases, only when the woman suffers from very severe menopausal symptoms and as long as she does not have a history of breast cancer.
10. Vitamin D
Studies have shown that if postmenopausal women take more than 800 IU of this vitamin daily, breast cancer is reduced by 34%. It is a vitamin that is synthesized when the sun hits the skin but, despite living in a very sunny country, we can be deficient in vitamin D. To know whether or not you really need this supplement, it is important that your doctor makes you a blood test and check for deficiency.
Prevent breast cancer
