In the Pink month - the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we'd like readers to know the real risks for breast cancer and the real measures they can take to prevent the disease. The following is some critical basic information regarding the association between reproductive factors and risk of breast cancer.
Be advised that this information is not readily available from organizations that are too busy raising funds for cancer research. What is published here comes mostly from Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, a nonprofit organization backed by a group of medical researchers and oncologists.
Many women fail to realize the single most effective measure they can take to reduce their risk of developing breast cancer is to have a baby as early as they can and avoid any induced abortion.
Breasts prior to a full term pregnancy are not mature and have tissue full of type 1 and type 2 lobules, which are where breast cancer develops. Breasts mature only after they experience a full term pregnancy during which the majority if not all of type 1 and type 2 lobules will be transformed into type 3 and 4 lobules, which are cancer-resistant.
Type 1 lobules in breasts are susceptible to ductal cancers which account for at least 85 percent of all breast cancers while type 2 lobules are where lobular cancers start, which account for about 12 percent of all breast carcinomas.
Type 1 lobules start to be formed at puberty and after puberty lobules account for 30 percent of breast tissue, of which 75 percent are type 1 and 25 percent type 2 and few are type 3.
Most type 2 lobules are formed under the influence of female sex hormones like estrogen and progesterone during menstrual cycles. More menstrual cycles a woman has, the higher risk she may have to face. That is why, women who experience menopause late are generally at higher risk of breast cancer.
On the other hand, transformation of type 2 lobules into type 3 and type 4 lobules, which are cancer resistant, needs the hormonal changes in a full term pregnancy. That is why a full-term pregnancy can help reduce the risk of breast cancer.
In the first trimester, hormone levels increase and many type 1 lobules grow into type 2 lobules. If pregnancy stops at this time such as in the case of induced abortion, a large number of type 2 lobules are formed from type 1 lobules and the breast tissue is now highly susceptible to breast cancer. That is why induced abortion increases risk of breast cancer.
Now if the pregnancy is allowed to continue, newly formed type 2 lobules will continue to develop into type 3 and 4 lobules making breast tissue cancer-resistant.
Spontaneous miscarriage in which hormone levels are not as high as those in aborted pregnancy does not leave the woman at particularly higher risk of breast cancer. Low hormone levels lead to lower numbers of type 2 during the first trimester compared to a normal yet aborted pregnancy during the first trimester.
Studies have shown having a full-term pregnancy or having a baby at age 18 can reduce the risk of breast cancer by 50 to 75 percent compared to those who have a baby at 30.
Each additional birth reduces the risk by 10 percent.
Some women who have one or more children still develop breast cancer. In this case, many of these women are found to have a large number of type 1 lobules in their breast tissue due to some genetic issues.
In a word, prior to a full -term pregnancy, women get more and more type 2 lobules and they are at increasing risk of breast cancer as they age. Early puberty and late menopause leave women exposed to high levels of estrogen for a longer period and these women are at higher risk of breast cancer.
So the best way to avoid breast cancer is to shorten the period between the age for puberty and the age for the first birth. That can be achieved by delaying puberty and having a baby early.
Many girls in the United States now enter puberty at age 8 or 9. Doctors say that is normal. Girls in poor countries enter puberty at age 15 or even later like 17 or 18. One another important thing women need to know is that early puberty is also associated with late menopause. Together both may subject a woman for 15-year longer exposure to estrogen. That may explain why women in the United States are at much higher risk of breast cancer than their counterparts in poor countries.
So how to avoid early puberty? Studies linked consumption of too much sugar and meat with early puberty. May that give readers a hint?
For more information, readers may visit the website of Breast Cancer prevention Institute.
source: foodconsumer.org
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