Breast Cancer: Are You at Risk?
Breast cancer: are you at risk?
by Jean Maza
Associate Manager of Communication
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
Breast cancer is a seemingly random, equal opportunity disease. Even though lung cancer and heart disease kill more women in the United States each year, breast cancer remains one of the top health concerns of American women.
Only about 5 percent of all reported breast cancer cases are attributed to genetic factors. What affects your risk of getting breast cancer?
According to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the leading source of non-profit funding for breast cancer research in the world, being a woman and getting older are the biggest risk factors for developing breast cancer.
Risk factors don’t cause breast cancer, of course, but they are associated with an increased chance of developing the disease.
So, if you’re a woman, the older you get, the greater your chance of developing breast cancer.
Here are some other risk factors to consider:
- Having a mother, daughter or sister who has had breast cancer
- Starting menopause after the age of 55
- Never having children
- Having your first child after the age of 30
- Being overweight after menopause, or gaining weight as an adult
- Indulging in one or more alcoholic drinks per day
- Being younger than age 12 when you had your first menstrual period
- Taking birth control pills for 5 years or longer
Some women have quite a few of these risk factors, yet they don’t develop breast cancer. Some women have few or none of the risk factors listed and they develop breast cancer. For this reason, Susan G. Komen for the Cure recommends women age 40 and older receive yearly mammograms and ask their health care provider to perform a clinical breast examination. For women younger than age 40 who recognize that they may be at higher risk for developing breast cancer, it’s important to check with a physician and see if yearly screening mammography should perhaps begin at age 35.
Because women in their 20s have denser breast tissue, screening mammography is usually not effective in detecting breast cancer early. For that reason, it’s important that 20-somethings start monthly breast self-examinations. Done at the end of each menstrual cycle, regularly performed breast self-examination can alert a young woman to any possible lumps, or to changes in the contours and texture of her breast tissue – all signals of possible conditions that should be checked out by a health care professional. A woman who has regularly practiced breast self examination from an early age is aware of what feels ‘right’ to her and is that much more in tune with what’s normal for her body.
Can you do anything to prevent breast cancer?
Many researchers are now investigating the answer to that question. Until we know, however, breast health and breast cancer experts, like those at Komen for the Cure suggest that there are several lifestyle practices that will help reduce your risk for developing breast cancer, and several other major diseases as well.
- Become physically active on a daily basis.
- Attain and maintain a healthy weight for your height, especially after menopause.
- Eat more fruits and vegetables. Aim for five servings per day.
- Eat more whole grains and cereals.
- Cut down on fatty foods and concentrated sweets.
- Take a multi-vitamin with folate.
- Get at least 1,000 mg. of calcium each day.
Leading a healthy lifestyle is good advice for everyone, but a word of caution: It will not necessarily eliminate your risk of serious health problems like cancer. It can, however, help manage your risk. All the suggestions listed above are fairly simple habits that people can acquire and maintain throughout a lifetime.
Want to learn more about your personal risk for breast cancer? Visit www.komen.org/riskmatrix. If you have a question or a concern about breast cancer, be sure to call Komen for the Cure’s national toll free breast care helpline, 1 800 I’M AWARE. Specially trained staff and caring volunteers will take your calls Monday through Friday from 9 to 5 Central Time.