The Real Facts You Should Know About Breast Cancer

I lost my good friend Mariam to breast cancer.  She was only 35 years old. I learnt so much about breast cancer, particularly during the last two years of her life.  It was a very emotional, and an eye opener period for me, which motivated a story ‘For the Love of Mariam’ about her last days, in my book Waving in the Wind, a collection of true life motivational stories published  in 2014 by Outskirts press. Remembering Mariam, see www.outskirtspress.com/wavinginthewindbybisi prompted me to do a revisit on breast cancer.  My aim here is to help separate facts from fiction on breast cancer. For instance there are 10 unconfirmed reports about breast cancer which I will attempt to provide the true facts, based on several research findings on the controversies.

1. Having a risk factor for breast cancer means a death sentence.

There are no single or combined factors that can automatically inflict you with breast cancer. Though multiple factors place you at risk of developing the disease, some of these factors seem to increase your risk only marginally: which include smoking, drinking more than the recommended limit, menstruating before age 12 and continuing after 50, and carrying first full-term pregnancy after age 30. If you have some of these, the upsurge in risk can be significant. This having been said, an inherited risk factor doesn’t mean you are going to get breast cancer.  However, there are very strong risk indicators in situations where there are abnormalities in breast cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2.  Even at that 20% to 60% of women with these inherited abnormalities will not develop breast cancer. That’s reassuring.

2. You’re at no risk for breast cancer if your family is free of the disease.

 

Every woman is at risk for breast cancer. Even some men!  Notwithstanding the fact that an inherited abnormality is the strongest risk factor, only about 10% of breast cancer is genetically related. Since about 85% of women who develop breast cancer don’t have a family history, it becomes crucial for all women to get screened as often as possible. 

3. Fathers are absolved from passing breast cancer genes, only mothers do.

 

The fact is out that breast cancer genes can be inherited from your father’s side of the family. So find out from relatives cases on both sides.  Thousands of male breast cancer is diagnosed yearly. Surprisingly, male breast cancer is very closely linked to a BRCA2 abnormality. Therefore don’t delay to let your doctor know if you have a man in the family who has had breast cancer.

4. You can start worrying about breast cancer when you reach menopause, irrespective of your risk factors.

Breast cancer can occur at any age, alluding to my friend Mariam's case, though the risk of getting the disease grows with age. This is the reason why all women must be on alert. Experts recommend yearly mammograms starting at age 40, but your doctor may suggest that you start earlier if there is a family history of breast cancer at a young age. For younger women, your doctor may recommend ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

5. Wearing a bra or using antiperspirants and deodorants increases your risk of breast cancer.  

I remember the myth surrounding wearing a bra, and using antiperspirant as risk factor trigger, made me dump my bras for several years in my twenties. The unconfirmed report then was that wearing a bra; particularly underwire bras, trapped toxins by restricting lymph and blood flow in your breast. There is also no proof for the claims that antiperspirants and deodorants cause cancer, either because they contain harmful chemicals that are ingested into the skin or restrict the body from sweating out cancerous stuffs that build up in the breasts.

6. You’re at lower risk of getting breast cancer if you have small breasts

Breast cancer is not breast-size related. Breast is irrelevant.  It doesn’t matter whether you wear the smallest A cup, the largest in a D or even a G cup.  Once you are a woman with breasts, you are not ruled out from getting breast cancer.

7.  Hormone therapy (HT) causes breast cancer.

There was concern among several women when a major research findings show that HT with a combination of estrogen and progestin increased risks of invasive breast cancer marginally. Another study also showed similar result but with a reassurance that risks  appeared to return to normal six months after women stopped using the therapy, regardless whether the women used combined therapy for just a few months or for more than 5 years.  In addition, no risk increase for breast cancer for women using only estrogen therapy, though this type of therapy is prescribed solely for women who have had their wombs removed surgically (hysterectomies), because estrogen taken alone can cause cancer in the lining of the uterus (endometrial cancer).

8.  Eating high fat foods and dairy products increases your risk.

Some studies found that women who live in countries with lower fat diets have a lower risk of breast cancer. Equally, women who live in countries with higher fat diets revealed no link between dietary fat consumption and breast cancer risk - for certain, the two findings are contradictory.  The explanation for the contradiction is that women could have maintained lower risk for other reasons such as living a healthy lifestyle which includes more exercise, portion rationing, less smoking, weight control, or having diverse genetic profile or environmental factors which make them less vulnerable. However, one fact is that healthy weight is very important for postmenopausal women, as obesity is a risk factor that does put you at risk for breast and other cancers.

The studies are mixed on dairy products.  A large scale study found that premenopausal women who ate a lot of dairy products, especially low-fat and fat-free types, showed a lower risk of breast cancer. The study, however, found no link between dairy product consumption and breast cancer risk in women who are past menopause.

9.  Mammograms can prevent breast cancer.

While mammograms can detect breast cancer, they cannot prevent it.

10. Mammograms are a waste of time.

Some studies suggest that getting a regular mammogram will not lower a woman's risk of dying of breast cancer. But many other studies totally disagree. By searching for the best facilities and professionals  in your area, you can truly maximise the benefit of mammography screening. The trick is to search for a radiology center that handles the highest number of breast cancer cases in your area.  Select a radiologist whose special area is reading mammograms, and not forgetting to ask the number of mammograms he or she read yearly. According to another study, the more readings, say about 300 mammograms monthly, radiologists do, the more accurate they’ll be. 

Photo Credit: Creative Commons.