Breast Cancer: What You Can Do to Reduce Your Risk

The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month throughout the world.

Raising awareness about this disease, which is the most common type of cancer, can help people learn its risk factors, which symptoms to look out for, what type of tests they should receive, and how they can prevent this condition.

What are the risk factors for breast cancer?

Several factors can increase the likelihood of getting breast cancer—although having these factors doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get this disease. Some of them are avoidable, whereas others are not:

• Age: The risk of developing breast cancer increases with age. Most invasive cases occur in women over age 55.
• Gender: Caucasian women are 100 times more likely to develop breast cancer than Caucasian men, whereas Black women are 70 times more likely to develop breast cancer than Black men. In turn, Latinas are 30% less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than Caucasian women.
  
• Genes: Different genetic mutations can increase the risk of developing breast cancer. However, experts stress that people who have mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are more likely to develop breast cancer than people who do not have these mutations.
  
• Hereditary risk: Most people who develop breast cancer do not have a family history of the disease. However, the risk is higher when a close female relative (mother, grandmother, or daughter) has had breast cancer.
• Late onset of menopause: People who start menopause after age 55 are more likely to develop breast cancer.
• Early menstruation: People who get their first period before age 12 have a higher risk of breast cancer.
• Giving birth at an older age: People who give birth to their first child after age 35 have a higher risk of breast cancer.
• Drinking too much alcohol: Alcohol use disorder can increase the risk of breast cancer.
• Hormone therapy: People who took or are taking postmenopausal estrogen and progesterone medications to help reduce the symptoms of menopause have a higher risk of breast cancer.
• Never having been pregnant: People who have never been pregnant or carried a pregnancy to term are more likely to develop breast cancer.
• Previous breast cancer: If you have had breast cancer in one breast, you are at higher risk of developing it in the other breast or a different area of the previously affected breast.
• Dense breast tissue: This makes it more difficult to read mammograms and also increases the risk of breast cancer.

How to prevent breast cancer

Although there is no infallible way to prevent breast cancer, experts say that taking certain steps and adopting a healthy lifestyle may help reduce the risk of this disease:

Manage your lifestyle

Different studies agree that adopting a healthy lifestyle can help reduce the risk of developing breast cancer. This involves several factors:

• Diet: A healthy diet is the cornerstone of breast cancer prevention. Studies usually emphasize the benefits of certain dietary patterns, such as the Mediterranean diet and DASH. Other studies have shown the benefits of certain foods, such as green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, garlic, onion, citrus, berries, apples, pears and grapes, fish, beans, whole grains, and nuts. Fried, fatty, sugary, and ultra-processed products should be avoided.
• Regular exercise: Major studies have confirmed that women who do moderate-to-intense physical activity for more than 3 hours a week have a 30-to-40% lower risk of breast cancer. This appears to apply to all women, regardless of their family or breast cancer history.
• Weight: If you are at a healthy weight, try to maintain it. If you need to lose some weight, consult a health care professional to learn weight-loss strategies. This factor is very important as it reduces the risk of several types of cancer, including breast cancer.
  
• Avoid or limit alcohol: Excessive and chronic alcohol use can increase the risk of breast cancer. This is because alcohol can affect how the estrogen hormone breaks down, increasing its concentration in the blood. Having a higher-than-normal level of estrogen in the body is a risk factor for breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers.

Detecting breast cancer

Having regular mammograms does not necessarily prevent breast cancer, but it can help reduce the chance of it not being detected. The general guidelines are:

• For women aged 40 to 49 years: One mammogram every year.
• For women aged 50 to 74 years: One mammogram every two years.
• For women aged 75 years and older: Mammograms are no longer recommended.

It should be noted that these are the general recommendations. Every person’s mammogram needs may be different. That’s why it’s important to talk to a doctor about these screening tests. Together, you can decide which breast cancer detection strategies are best for you.

Are self-exams helpful?

Familiarizing yourself with your breasts during a self-exam can help you become aware of your breasts. A breast self-exam is an examination of your breasts that you do yourself.

Use your eyes and hands to get to know your breasts and determine whether there have been any changes to how they look and feel.

While most changes detected in the breasts during a self-exam have benign causes, some changes may indicate something serious, such as breast cancer.

It should be noted that most medical organizations do not recommend considering routine breast self-exams as part of breast cancer screening. This is because they have not been demonstrated to be effective at detecting breast cancer or improving survival in women with breast cancer.

However, doctors think that it is important for women to be familiar with their breasts so that they understand what is normal and can report any changes immediately.

Preventive treatment

If your doctor has reviewed your family history and determined that you have other factors, such as precancerous breast disease, that can increase your risk of breast cancer, your doctor may discuss other options to reduce that risk:

• Preventive medications (chemoprophylaxis): Medications that inhibit estrogen, such as selective estrogen receptor modulators and aromatase inhibitors, reduce the risk of breast cancer in women who have a high risk of developing the disease. These medications may cause side effects, so doctors only use them for women with a very high risk of breast cancer.
• Preventive surgery: Women with a very high risk of breast cancer may decide to have their healthy breasts surgically removed (prophylactic mastectomy).
  

Sources: National Library of Medicine; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Mayo Clinic; Global Cancer Observatory (Globocan); World Health Organization (WHO); American Cancer Society.