The Quick Facts: The detection of breast cancer was the focus of new controversial recommendations made recently about breast cancer screening. However, there are many risk factors associated with the development of breast cancer and some groups strongly believe that increases of chemicals in the environment has lead to increases in breast cancer. Synthetic chemicals can mimic the effect of estrogen, exposure to which overtime increases the risk of breast cancer. You can take preventative measures to reduce your risk of breast cancer by reducing these risk factors. Namely, make informed decisions about birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy; limit the amount of alcohol you drink to one drink a day and don’t smoke; maintain a healthy weight throughout your life by eating healthy and exercising; eat organic produce, meat, and dairy; avoid #7 plastics that may contain BPA; revamp your beauty routine and use more natural products.
In mid-November the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent government-appointed panel made the first reevaluation of breast cancer screening guidelines since 2002. Needless to say, their recommendations were controversial. One recommendation suggests that women in their 40s should stop routinely having annual mammograms and older women should cut back to one scheduled exam every other year. Many organizations do not support the recommendations, including the American Cancer Society and the American College of Radiology, among others. Speak with your doctor to determine what the proper course of action is right for you.
Screening guidelines recommend how to detect breast cancer in an individual. However, there are ways to live your life that may decrease your exposure to risk factors for breasts cancer.
Risk Factors for Breast Cancer
According to the State of the Evidence 2008 report published by the Breast Cancer Fund, breast cancer rates in the United States have increased by more than 40 percent between 1978 and 1998. In 2008, a woman’s lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is one in eight. The State of the Evidence is a comprehensive report on the environmental exposures linked to increased breast cancer risk.
Although scientists do not know exactly what causes breast cancer, there are certain factors that have been shown to increase or decrease your risk of getting it. According to the American Cancer Society, there are risk factors for getting breast cancer that you cannot change, such as gender, age (2 out of 3 women with breast cancer are over 55 when the cancer is found); genetics (5-10% of breast cancers are linked to inherited changes like those of the BRCA1and BRCA2 gene where women have up to an 80% chance of getting breast cancer in their lifetime); and family history (doubles a woman’s risk).
There are risk factors that you can change. According to the American Cancer Society, factors that you can control that may impact your risk of getting breast cancer include:
• Not having children, or having them later in life (after age 30) slightly increases the risk of getting breast cancer because being pregnant reduces a woman’s total number of lifetime menstrual cycles (i.e., the fewer menstrual cycles a woman has in life the lower her risk of breast cancer whether it be due to a pregnancy or breast-feeding or a later onset of menstruation);
• Recent oral contraceptive use (birth control pills) slightly increase the risk of getting breast cancer than those who have never used them; however, women who stopped using them more than 10 years ago do not have an increased risk;
• Using post-menopausal hormone therapy (also known as hormone replacement therapy) to help relieve symptoms of menopause and prevent the thinning of the bones increases the risk of getting breast cancer because of the hormones used (estrogen and progesterone) and a treatment using both hormones increases the risk of dying from breast cancer after as little as 2 years of use;
• Breast-feeding slightly lowers breast cancer risk, especially if continued for 1.5-2 years, because this reduces a woman’s total number of lifetime menstrual cycles;
• Drinking alcohol (2 to 5 drinks daily) increases the risk of getting breast cancer 1.5 times that of non-drinkers;
• Being overweight or obese increases the risk of getting breast cancer, especially for women after menopause because most having more fat tissue after menopause raises estrogen levels;
• Exercise reduces breast cancer risk. In one study as little as 1.25 to 2.5 hours per week of brisk walking reduces a woman’s risk by 18%.
Environmental Link
Although the American Cancer Society lists environmental factors as an uncertain risk factor, other groups strongly believe that increases in chemicals in the environment with industrialization has lead to the increase in breast cancer. The Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors (BCERF) at Cornell University says over half of breast cancers can not be explained by known risk factors and that some research suggests that chemicals in the environment may contribute to a person’s risk of getting breast cancer.
The hypotheses about how environmental chemicals affect breast cancer risk is that synthetic chemicals can either mimic the effect of estrogen (called xenoestrogens) or actually affect the levels of estrogen by disrupting the way estrogen is produced or used in the body (called endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs)), as well as disrupting other hormones including androgens and thyroid hormones.
It is undisputed that exposure over time to natural estrogens in the body increases the risk of breast cancer. As discussed above, use of hormone replacement therapy and oral contraceptives increase this risk. Exposure to xenoestrogens and EDCs may explain the increase in breast cancer in industrialized countries around the world.
Chemicals of Concern
A more complete list of EDCs that have been shown to affect the risk for breast cancer in humans, or the risk of mammary cancer in animals, can be found at this link but here are a few examples:
• Pesticides, such as dieldrin and aldrin, atrazine, and helptachlor and those that have been banned such as DDT, because they persist in the environment;
• Bisphenol A, found in polycarbonate plastic (denoted by the triangle symbol and number 7), epoxy resin, and dental sealants;
• Polyaromatic hydrocarbons, the byproducts of combustion;
• Tobacco smoke, both active & second-hand smoke;
• Dioxins, from vehicle exhaust, incineration, and manufacturing;
• Phthalates, chemicals found in cosmetics and to make plastics flexible;
• Parabens, anti-microbials found in cosmetics and personal care products; and
• Food additives, given to animals to enhance growth such as recombinant bovine somatotropin and zeranol.
How to Reduce Risks
It is important to recognize that it is not possible to reduce your exposure to ambient chemicals but just knowing that chemicals can mimic the effects of estrogen is a start. In addition, understanding that hormone replacement therapy as well as birth control pills may be associated with estrogen exposure may help us make more informed decisions about our bodies and the environment. Here are some steps that you can be taking to reduce your risk factors of breast cancer:
• Make informed decisions about birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy;
• Limit the amount of alcohol you drink to one drink a day and don’t smoke;
• Maintain a healthy weight throughout your life by eating healthy and exercising (the American Cancer Society recommends 45 to 60 minutes of intentional physical activity 5 or more days a week);
• Eat organic produce, meat, and dairy to avoid pesticide residue & food additives (see Real Mama’s “A Common Sense Approach to Eating Organic Produce”);
• Avoid #7 plastics that may contain BPA (see Real Mama’s “Bisphenol A Controversy over Safety of Plastics and Kids’ Health”);
• Revamp your beauty routine and use more natural products to avoid parabens and phthalates (see Real Mama’s “Skin-Deep Chemicals in Personal Care Products and Cosmetics Pose Health Risks”).
Information used in this article was found at the following sources, which you can visit if you want to find out more about this topic:
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_2_2X_What_causes_breast_cancer_5.asp?sitearea (American Cancer Society, Overview: Breast Cancer – What Causes Breast Cancer?).
http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstf09/breastcancer/brcanrs.htm (Recommendations made by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force)
http://coeh.berkeley.edu/greenchemistry/cbcrp.htm (University of California’s Breast Cancer and Chemicals Policy Project)
http://www.pureprevention.com/ask_resources.php (The Breast Cancer Fund’s “The State of the Evidence” Report)
Tags: avoid #7 plastic, breast cancer, environmental link, healthy lifestyle, hormone replacement, informed choices for birth control, synthetic chemicals
