To drink or not to drink? That is the question.

I must admit all these new studies about the benefits and negative effects of each and every food and drink I like makes my head spin. They said alcohol is good for your heart but now new findings state that it actually leads to increased risk for cancer. So what should one do? I guess it depends on whether you’re more afraid of a heart attack or getting cancer!

Seriously though, even moderate amounts of alcohol leads to increased cancer risk. According to Oxford University researchers women that drank more than 2 alcoholic beverages a week increases their risk by 2% while those that had 7 to 14 drinks a week increased their cancer risk by 5%. And alarmingly those that drink 15 or more alcoholic beverages a week increase their cancer risk by up to 15%!

So what does this mean? According to doctors what it means is that you shouldn’t use the healthy heart excuse to drink lots of alcohol because they now how the cancer rebuttal. At the same time according to Dr Alan Kristal of the Cancer Prevention Program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, moderate alcohol intake is acceptable since the benefits to the heart outweighs the increase in cancer risk. Remember moderation is the key. So keep to the American Cancer Society’s recommendation and limit your alcohol intake to one drink a day for women and a couple of drinks a day for men.

According to breast surgeon Trevor Smith, a change in lifestyle may actually help prevent breast cancer. He urges everyone to pay more attention to the link between breast cancer and lifestyle. Stuff, a New Zealand web site, ran this story today:

Hundreds of published studies identified risk factors which people can easily control and the challenge is to motivate people to want to change, Dr Smith says.

Healthy nutrition should be more plant-based and less processed and energy dense. A binge drinking culture contributes to the risk and alcohol should be limited to one drink a day.

He says he is not trying to promote elimination but moderation. Limiting alcohol is not a popular message, but drinking alcohol daily increases the risk by 10 percent.

“Every bit you do is an investment in your health.”

From the age of 30 women should get an annual breast check and by the age of 40 be having mammograms.

The book, called Breast Care, was launched two months ago, providing a new approach presented in a positive way, he says.

Though his ideas have not gained much ground as of yet, I am inclined to take up for his advice. Again, it wouldn’t hurt to examine one’s lifestyle, would it?

Myth #5: Physical injury or force on the breast can cause breast cancer.
I totally believed this one, to be honest. However, it is completely unfounded. Sometimes, breast cancer is detected in women who have recently experienced trauma in their breast area. The trauma is not the cause of the breast cancer, though. There is no link between trauma and breast cancer.

Myth #6: Breast self-examination is best done in the shower.
There are really no hard and fast rules as to where you conduct your breast self-examination. However, it would be better to do it when your skin is dry. Wet soapy hands are slippery and it may be harder to detect any existing lumps.

Myth #7: Women with small breasts are not likely to get breast cancer.
Breast size has nothing to do with breast cancer. Just because you have small breasts should not be an excuse to be complacent about the possibility of breast cancer.

Myth #1: I (or someone you know) am too young to have breast cancer.
The truth is that women of all ages can be affected with breast cancer. The reason behind this myth is that most women who get breast cancer are older but that does not exclude the possibility of younger women getting it also. This is one good reason women should have check ups or at least perform breast self-examination.

Myth #2: There is no history of breast cancer in my family, ergo, I have nothing to worry about.
Not that I am being an alarmist here but just because no one in your family has ever been diagnosed with breast cancer does not mean that you have absolutely no chance of getting it. The truth of the matter is that a good number of women diagnosed with breast cancer have no family history of it. So do not be complacent because of this.

Myth #3: I have no risk factor for breast cancer so I am perfectly safe.
Again, not to be an alarmist, but there are many women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer even if they didn’t have a single risk factor. The only “risk factor” they had was being a woman.

I hope that I am not being perceived as negative here but my point is that you have to take certain steps in order to be vigilant against breast cancer.

It should be noted, however, that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (CTFPHC) do not perceive regular breast self-examination as compulsory. Indeed, even the American Cancer Society sees this as an option. If I were a woman, however, I would make sure to do this every once in a while just to be sure.

So how does one conduct a breast self-examination? It is basically checking one’s breasts for lumps or any other changes. This is done in different positions – standing, lying down, etc. – all the while looking at one’s breasts for any changes. The important thing is that if a woman finds some changes, such as lumps, she should immediately set an appointment with her doctor in order to get it checked.

Another important thing to remember is that even if you conduct regular breast self-examinations, you should not feel complacent. These self-examinations should not take the place of mammograms and regular check ups with your doctor.

Better screening
It used to be that the standard for screening was mammography. This method basically identified lumps and calcification in the breast tissue. Today, however, MRI is also used to detect breast cancer and it is far more effective and accurate.

Better medication
The cutting edge in breast cancer drugs today are called aromatase inhibitors (AIs). According to studies, women who have been treated with these drugs have a higher chance of cancer NOT coming back.

Better biopsy procedures
It used to be that a biopsy meant a lot of pain and other inconveniences. Today, the standard is that doctors only remove several lymph nodes from the patient. Called the sentinel lymph node biopsy, the procedure accurately detects if there are cancer cells.

Better treatment options
This includes the use of gene-focused treatments. Aside from taking a look at the patient’s genes, doctors are working on the genes of the cancer cells. This kind of procedure could mean more knowledge about the exact nature of the cancer and provide insight that could lead to more effective treatment options.

In their web site, the Mayo Clinic makes it clear that diet and exercise are the best breast cancer prevention strategies. Let’s look at some of the things that you can do specifically to help lower the risk of getting breast cancer.

Limit your alcohol intake
Though just because you drink a lot does not mean that you will definitely get breast cancer, there is a strong relationship between high alcohol consumption and cases of breast cancer. The best route to take would be to limit your alcohol intake or avoid it completely. Even if you are not worried about breast cancer, limiting alcohol will also bring about other benefits to your health anyway.

Watch your weight
This does not mean that you should go on crash diets and aim to be the thinnest person in the world. Just keep within the normal or average weight for your height and built. The reason behind this is that there is a link between obesity and breast cancer. Moderation is the key here – just like with everything else.

Exercise
No harm will come out of exercising at least moderately. Since regular physical activity will help you maintain a healthy weight, you can also avoid being at risk for breast cancer due to the obesity-cancer link.

Age: The chance of getting breast cancer goes up as a woman gets older. Most cases of breast cancer occur in women over 60. This disease is not common before menopause.

Personal history of breast cancer: A woman who had breast cancer in one breast has an increased risk of getting cancer in her other breast.

Gene changes: Changes in certain genes increase the risk of breast cancer. These genes include BRCA1, BRCA2, and others. Tests can sometimes show the presence of specific gene changes in families with many women who have had breast cancer. Health care providers may suggest ways to try to reduce the risk of breast cancer, or to improve the detection of this disease in women who have these changes in their genes.

Family history: A woman’s risk of breast cancer is higher if her mother, sister, or daughter had breast cancer. The risk is higher if her family member got breast cancer before age 40. Having other relatives with breast cancer (in either her mother’s or father’s family) may also increase a woman’s risk.

Certain breast changes: Some women have cells in the breast that look abnormal under a microscope. Having certain types of abnormal cells (atypical hyperplasia and lobular carcinoma in situ [LCIS]) increases the risk of breast cancer.

So these are only some of the most common risk factors that have been identified. For more information, you can visit the web site of the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

That is why all the concerned authorities have designated a month in the year to help people become more aware of the issues involved. In keeping with the whole event, I decided to write some posts on breast cancer. Here are some stats to give you a background (courtesy of the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month web site):

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States. According to the American Cancer Society, it’s estimated that About 178,480 women in the United States will be found to have invasive breast cancer in 2007. About 40,460 women will die from the disease this year. Right now there are slightly over 2 million women living in the United States who have been treated for breast cancer.

In the next few posts, we are going to take a closer look at breast cancer and things you can do to prevent it.