Do you know that the number of cases of breast cancer is rising every day? According to some estimates, about one million new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed throughout the world each year.
Is any woman safe from getting this disease? Can anything be done to prevent it? And what comfort and support are needed by those fighting this foe?
Most skin cancers are caused by ultraviolet rays from the sun. Most lung cancers are caused by smoking. But no single cause has been established for breast cancer.
However, according to recent research, genetic, environmental, and hormonal factors may play a role in breast cancer. Women who are exposed to these factors may be at increased risk.
Family History
A woman having a family member with breast cancer, such as a mother, a sister, or even a maternal aunt or grandmother, has an increased likelihood of developing it. If several of them had this disease, her risk is greater.
Environmental Factors
There are also environmental factors, broadly conceived, that are involved” in triggering the disease, said Devra Davis, a scholar commenting in the journal Science. Since the female breast is one of the most radiosensitive parts of the body, women exposed to ionizing radiation have an increased risk of breast cancer. So do those exposed to toxic chemicals.
Another environmental factor is diet. Some suggest that breast cancer may be a vitamin-deficiency disease and point to a lack of vitamin D. This vitamin helps the body absorb calcium, which may in turn help prevent uncontrolled cell growth.
Other studies link the fat in diet, not as a cause, but as a promoter of breast cancer. The magazine FDA Consumer stated that the death rate from breast cancer was the highest in countries like the United States, where the intake of fat and animal protein is high. It commented: “Japanese women historically have a low risk for breast cancer, but that risk has been rising dramatically, concurrent with a ‘Westernization’ of eating habits; that is, from a low-fat to high-fat diet.”
A recent study suggested that the large number of calories consumed in a high-fat diet may represent the real risk. It has been noted that “every excess calorie raises breast cancer risk, with each excess fat-derived calorie posing about 67 percent more risk than calories from other sources.” Excess calories can put on excess pounds, and women who are severely overweight are thought to have about a threefold higher risk of breast cancer, especially women past menopause. Body fat produces estrogen, a female hormone that can act adversely on breast tissue, leading to cancer.
Personal History and Hormones
Within a woman’s breast is a rich hormonal milieu that produces changes in the breast all throughout her life. Some women, however, the exposure of breast tissue to prolonged hormone stimulation . . . will set off a series of cytological changes that eventually result in malignant [cancerous] conversion.” For this reason it is thought that women who have had an early menarche, by age 12, or have a delayed menopause, in the mid-50’s, have a higher risk.