What Increases Your Risk of Breast Cancer?
Did you know that the majority of women with breast cancer have no known risk other than being a female? Did you know there are women with multiple risk factors who never develop breast cancer? As a naturopathic physician, it’s my job to educate you on your risks so you can lower them and help protect yourself.
First and foremost, being an aging woman increases your risk of developing breast cancer (but I still wouldn’t trade it for anything! Women are awesome!).
Second, if you have had breast cancer before then your risk greatly increases.
Having a first-degree relative such as your mother, daughter, or sister moderately increases your risk. The further away in your family tree (ie. your aunt, great grandma or cousin), the less risk you have.
Speaking of family trees, if you have the genetic mutation for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, then you are at a very high risk.
Still keeping you at risk but not nearly as high as the above factors includes the following:
Your estrogen exposure – either because you started your periods early in life (before age 12), or ended them later in life (after age 55), or both means that you had more cycles of estrogen in your body.
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There is more that can increase a postmenopausal woman's risk for breast cancer. To reduce breast cancer risk, these women should limit weight gain, get regular exercise, and eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and low in fats.
All women should limit their alcohol consumption and their exposure to chemicals like parabens, BPA, dioxins, and endocrine disruptors that have been shown a link to breast cancer.
For more information: www.ReduceBreastCancerRisk.com.