Preventing Breast Cancer is Possible says Founder of New Nonprofit
A Southern California man has a dream that in the not too distant future breast cancer will become one less thing for women to worry about, and he is doing something about it.
Kevin Morton, the founder of a new non-profit organization, The Foundation for Breast Cancer Prevention in Irvine, believes his new model for breast cancer prevention will not only open up vast new discovery about the disease that currently plagues 1-in-8 women, but will lower the number of newly-diagnosed cases.
The Foundation for Breast Cancer Prevention seeks to establish a national network of breast cancer teams that can share data, clinical services and prevention programs so that collaboration can occur and new prevention programs can be accelerated in hospitals across the country. Based on the heart disease model, Morton's goal is to move breast cancer from a “diagnose-and-treat” disease to one that is screened for and prevented.
The current understanding and treatment of breast cancer today is where heart disease was 20 years ago, says Morton. At that time a patient would wait until he or she had chest pains, or worse, a heart attack, and then would be treated.
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Hi Lynnette - What exciting news this is! It would truly make a difference to put more focus on breast cancer prevention and screening programs. I helped develop such a program for a single hospital system more than 20 years ago, and the key reason was to reduce the morbidity and mortality rates among women. It worked then, and it would certainly work on a broader national and international level.
While I personally support efforts to find a "cure" for breast cancer, I would like to see much more focus on education and screening programs that would actually give more power, lower costs, less disease risk and greater health to women RIGHT NOW.
Bravo to Kevin Morton for starting this new non-profit, I hope his efforts are successful. Please keep us posted as this develops.
Best regards,
Pat
Hi! I'm a student from University of Malaya, taking Genetics and Molecular Biology course.
I would like to confirm with you about a statement saying that "International differences in breast cancer occurrence might be partly explained
on the basis of lifestyle factors, such as diet and alcohol consumption. Among
the dietary factors, the most of the studies have focused on diet content of fat
and fiber."
Is the statement true?
Why we consume the fiber can cause us breast cancer?
Regards,
Kok Siong Chen
Cytogenetics and Cancer
Hello Kok Siong Chen -
Thank you for writing. I understand you are asking us to confirm a statement, but you haven't said the source of the statement. Can you please let us know where you got this statement? I'd also like clarification of your second question. Are you asking why people eat fiber?
Once I hear back with you I would be happy to research this information for you.
Thanks, and best regards,
Pat
Hi! I got the information from a book entitled "Nutrition and Cancer Prevention" edited by Atif B. Awad and Peter G Bradford.
I'm asking why eat fiber will induce the breast cancer. Thanks for information! :)
Regards,
Kok Siong Chen
Cytogenetics and Cancer
Hi Kok Siong,
Here is some pretty good information on why eating fiber is believed to lower colon cancer risk.
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_1_1x_Studies_Find_High-Fib...
As for breast cancer, The American Cancer Society suggests while the relationship between dietary fiber and breast cancer recurrence is not clear, a diet high in fiber may reduce estrogen levels, which may in turn reduce the risk of recurrence. I have not seen a recent study to suggest that fiber rich diets lowers the risk of breast cancer initially or that there is a correlation between the two, but there seems to be a correlation between colon cancer and high fiber diets. Hope this helps. Thanks for writing.
Best,
Lynette