Breast Cancer Breakthrough - Cut Your Risk of Death in Half

What is really disturbing is the speed at which breast cancer rates have risen over the past 5 decades. In 1960, one in twenty women was diagnosed but today, it is one in seven.

Infact, the latest paleoanthropological research shows that cancer was virtually nonexistent in humans before poor diet and pollution appeared, finally proving that cancer is a man-made disease.

Although much have been written about breast cancer but this article is to provide you with a broad understanding of the factors that lead to the development of this deadly disease as we now understand them and what you can do preventatively to avoid becoming the next victim.

Unfortunately, the current medical paradigm is relatively clueless about what causes breast cancer and how to effectively treat it. Most conventional cancer treatments actually add insult to injury by doing more harm than good a fact that up to this point has been swept under the rug by the medical industry.

However, breast cancer is not a disease exclusive to women. If you happen to be a man, please read on since it actually does apply to you as well. Men are NOT Immune to Breast Cancer.

For every 100 women with breast cancer, one man will develop the disease. The average age men are diagnosed with breast cancer is 67, versus 62 for women, meaning male cancers are often caught in a more advanced stage. If you work around petrochemicals, your risk is much higher. Men who work around gasoline and combustion products have a significantly higher risk of developing breast cancer.

Males and their doctors may be diverted from an accurate diagnosis due to enlargement of the breasts or gynecomastia, a common and benign condition, plus the fact that men are generally less vigilant about checking for breast lumps.

Types of Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is classified into two types, based on whether or not it is invasive:

Noninvasive (in situ) breast cancer: Cancer cells have not spread to adjacent areas of your breast—they have remained in their place of origin. The most common type is ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which occurs in the lining of the milk ducts. Noninvasive breast cancer is sometimes called "stage 0" cancer.

Invasive breast cancer. Cancer cells infiltrate or spread outside the membrane that lines a duct or lobule, into surrounding tissues. The cancer cells can then travel to other parts of your body. Invasive breast cancer can be stage I, II, III, or IV, depending on how advanced it is.

Breast cancer can be further classified according to what type of tissue it arises from:

Milk ducts: Ductal carcinoma is the most common type of breast cancer.

Milk-producing lobules: Lobular carcinoma originates in the lobules, where breast milk is produced.

Connective tissues (muscles, fat and blood vessels): Rarely, breast cancer can originate from these breast tissues; in this case, it's called sarcoma

Inflammatory Breast Cancer: The Rarest and Most Aggressive Form

Inflammatory Breast Cancer (Ibc) is a rare form of breast cancer of sudden onset (weeks to months) and can easily be confused with a breast infection (mastitis). The affected breast is red, swollen, warm and tender because cancer cells have blocked the lymphatic vessels in your breast.

You might or might not have a lump.

IBC accounts for between 1 and 5 percent of all breast cancer cases in the U.S., and is more common among younger women and African American women. There have been some cases documented in men. IBC is the most aggressive form of breast cancer, and survival rates are worse than for other types of breast cancer.

You should seek medical attention immediately if you have the above symptoms—or if you are being treated for mastitis but your symptoms are not resolving as expected.

Signs and Symptoms to Watch For

The most common signs and symptoms of breast cancer include the following:

A breast lump or thickening that feels different from the surrounding tissue

Bloody discharge, or other unusual discharge, from your nipple

A change in your breast's size or shape

Changes in the skin on your breast, such as dimpling or indentation

Redness or pitting of your breast skin—kind of like the skin of an orange

Pain or tenderness in your breast

An inverted nipple

Peeling or flaking of the nipple

Enlarged lymph nodes or swelling in your armpit

If you have any of these changes, you should consult your healthcare provider immediately. But don't panic—remember, the majority of breast tumors are benign. Many of the above signs can indicate other issues besides cancer, and your healthcare provider can help you sort it out.

What Causes Breast Cancer?

We now know that breast inflammation is KEY to the development and progression of breast cancer. Inflammation is not the cause, but rather is a key process that sets the stage for breast cancer to occur. There are certainly many aggravating factors, from foods to chemicals in the environment to lifestyle patterns and genetics—but it is the INFLAMMATION that these things cause that starts the wheel turning.

Scientists have shown that an inflammatory process within the breast itself promotes growth of breast cancer stem cells. That's the bad news.

The good news?

Researchers were able to inactivate this inflammation selectively, which reduced the activity of these stem cells and stopped breast cancer from forming.  Although your genes are a factor in your breast cancer risk, it is not your genes that dictate your health but rather the expression of them, and that depends on what genes you "turn on and off" with your lifestyle and emotional state (epigenetic factors).

In other words, you have more power over your health than your genetics does!

Breast Cancer is Closely Tied to Estrogen Exposure

There are a number of studies that have given us clues about the factors contributing to breast cancer. But one of the most significant factors is synthetic Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). According to a study published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer rates for women dropped in tandem with decreased use of HRT. In Canada, between 2002 and 2004, HRT use dropped by 7.8 percent. During that same time, breast cancer rates also fell by 9.6 percent.

This further supports existing evidence that HRT is linked with breast cancer, which is an estrogen-related cancer. So it is no surprise that giving women potent synthetic estrogens will increase their risk.

However, there's a twist.

After remaining stable at around five percent between 2004 and 2006, breast cancer rates then began to rise again, even though HRT use remained low. The researchers claim this is an indication that HRT simply speeds up tumor growth, as opposed to directly causing it.

It's also important to remember that you are exposed to a large number of estrogen-like compounds daily, called xenoestrogens. Estrogen pollution is increasingly present all around you, from plastics to canned food and drinks, food additives, household cleaning products, and pesticides. And estrogen levels are rising in our waterways as a result of the runoff from factory animal farms.

Still, whether it's a promoter or a causative factor, there's good reason to be wary of using HRT to address natural menopause. There is no reason to subject yourself to synthetic hormones when you reach menopause—the risk is simply too great.

If you are experiencing excessive menopausal symptoms, you may want to consider bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, which uses hormones that are molecularly identical to the ones your body produces and does not wreak havoc on your system, which is a much safer alternative.

There are similar risks for younger women who use oral contraceptives—birth control pills, which are also comprised of synthetic hormones—have been linked to cervical and breast cancers. Another aggravating factor in breast cancer is, unfortunately, the breast cancer screening tool itself.

Are Mammograms Fueling Breast Cancer Rates?

Mammography is a great example of a stubborn head-in-the-sand approach to cancer screening. Mammograms expose your body to radiation that can be 1,000 times greater than a chest x-ray, which we know poses a cancer risk. Mammography also compresses your breasts tightly, and often painfully, which could lead to a lethal spread of cancerous cells, should they exist.

The benefit is marginal, the harm caused is substantial, and the costs incurred are enormous, there is no solid evidence that mammograms save lives, in spite of the propaganda some organizations constantly parrot to the press. Mammograms are often touted as a "life-saving" form of cancer screening, responsible for reducing breast cancer death rates by 15 to 25 percent.

So, not only are mammograms unsafe, but they are NOT saving lives as many professionals believed they were.

Past research has also demonstrated that adding an annual mammogram to a careful physical examination of the breasts does not improve breast cancer survival rates over a physical examination alone.

Thermography: Cancer's Best Kept Secret

By measuring the radiation of infrared heat from your body, thermographic screening can detect signs of breast cancer as much as 10 years earlier than either mammography or a physical exam all without any ionizing radiation or mechanical pressure. It has NO damaging side effects.

Thermographic breast screening is able to predict the likelihood of breast cancer, before any tumors have formed, because it provides a snapshot of the early stages of angiogenesis—the formation of a direct supply of blood to cancer cells, which is a necessary step before they can grow into sizeable tumors.

This is the classic use of "preventative medicine" because you can detect negative changes before you develop the disease—while you still have time to turn things around.

Annual thermograms allow you to map changes in your body's heat patterns over time.

What About Breast Self-Exams?

Breast self-exams have long been recommended as a simple way for women to keep track of anything unusual in their breasts. Now, after studies have found that such exams do not reduce breast cancer death rates and actually increase the rate of unnecessary biopsies, many experts are recommending a more relaxed approach known as "breast awareness."

Breast awareness is really self-explanatory. It means you should regularly check your breasts for changes, but can do so in a way that feels natural to you. In other words, you don't have to do it on the same day each month, or using any particular pattern.

Simply be aware of what's normal for you so you can recognize anything out of the ordinary. Although breast cancer is much less common in men, it certainly wouldn't hurt for men to practice "breast awareness" as well.

Here are some of the more significant findings related to conventional breast cancer treatment:

Needle biopsies

Needle biopsies are widely used as part of the traditional allopathic approach to diagnosing breast cancer. But they may accidentally cause malignant cells to break away from a tumor, allowing it to spread to other areas of your body.

According to a study from the John Wayne Cancer Institute, it appears that a needle biopsy may increase the spread of cancer by 50 percent compared to patients who receive excisional biopsies, also known as lumpectomies.

Lumpectomies

A 2010 study found, for certain women, a lumpectomy might not be necessary. The procedure was found to not prolong survival or prevent recurrence of breast cancer.

Lymph Node Removal

Lymph node removal might not be necessary after all. Today, the standard treatment for breast cancer patients whose cancer has spread to the sentinel lymph node is to surgically remove the other nodes as well—a procedure called axillary node dissection. (The "sentinel node" refers to the node closest to the tumor, or the lymph node that can be reached by metastasizing cancer cells first.)

However, according to this latest study, lymph node removal has virtually no impact on survival or disease recurrence, while it causes additional pain and debilitation. After five years, 82.2 percent of the women who had the axillary nodes removed were still alive and in remission, compared to 83.8 percent of the women who did not get the operation.

And, interestingly enough, the cancer recurrence was actually slightly higher in the group who had the operation, compared to those who didn't.

Chemotherapy and Radiation

In addition to the removal of lymph nodes, current conventional treatment also typically includes chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Chemo is a standard recommendation for women whose cancer has spread to their lymph nodes, despite its magnificent failure rate and oftentimes lethal side effects. One study concluded that as many as 18,000 of the 45,000 women each year who undergo chemo for breast cancer could safely skip it.

Similarly, six or more weeks of radiation are also part of the standard treatment for most women with breast cancer. However, according to another recent study, just ONE dose of radiation, delivered with precision to the affected site directly after her lumpectomy, had the same rate of effectiveness as the extended radiation treatment.

Breast Cancer Prevention Musts

A healthful diet, regular physical exercise, appropriate sun exposure or oral supplements to optimize your vitamin D levels, and an effective means of managing your emotional health are the cornerstones of just about any cancer prevention program, including breast cancer.

Regular physical activity has been shown to decrease the likelihood of developing breast cancer, as well as decreasing your chances of dying from it by 50 percent, once diagnosed.

It is also important to watch out for excessive iron levels. Elevated iron is actually quite common once women stop menstruating. The extra iron works as a powerful oxidant, increasing free radicals in your body and thereby increasing your risk of cancer.

The best way to monitor your iron is to have your ferritin level drawn. Ferritin is the iron transport protein and should not be above 80. If yours is elevated, you can reduce it simply by donating your blood.

The following lifestyle strategies will help you to further lower your breast cancer risk:

Other Research-Based "Dos and Don'ts"

The following is a list of various factors that have been scientifically found to impact breast cancer in one way or another. Many are isolated studies that offer food for thought and open up potential avenues for future research. For more information on each, simply click on the links provided.

Depression can influence breast cancer survival. Women whose depression lifts in the first year after being told they have advanced breast cancer outlive by more than two years those whose depression symptoms worsened.

Black cohosh shows promise in fighting breast cancer by inducing apoptosis in human breast cancer cells.

Artemisinin (a compound in wormwood) has been shown to be toxic to human breast cancer cells.

A high carbohydrate diet may increase your breast cancer risk.

Foods that have a scientific basis for fighting breast cancer include kelp, spicy foods, cruciferous vegetables (especially broccoli), and evening primrose oil.

Three cups of tea daily may slash your breast cancer risk by 50 percent.

If you eat a poor diet, it can cause DNA changes that may increase your daughters' and granddaughters' risk of breast cancer.

Antiperspirants can increase your breast cancer risk due to their toxic metals, such as aluminum, which influence estrogen activity.

Too much light at night was found to increase breast cancer by inhibiting melatonin in a study by the American National Cancer Institute.

Women who have had an abortion are up to twice as likely to develop breast cancer, according to a British study. 

If You're Diagnosed With Early Stage Breast Cancer

In the event that you are diagnosed with DCIS or another form of early stage breast cancer, always get a second—and possibly third and fourth—opinion. I cannot stress this enough, since the false positive rates are just too high and the diagnostic criteria too subjective.

Before you make any decision on treatment—and definitely before you decide to have surgery or chemotherapy—make sure your biopsy results have been reviewed by a breast specialist who is knowledgeable and experienced in that field.

The majority of breast cancer is preventable. But if you are hit with that diagnosis, don't lose hope! There is a great deal you can do to harness your body's own powerful healing ability.

10 Simple Lifestyle Strategies to Reduce Your Risk of Breast Cancer

Radically reduce your intake of sugar/fructose and processed foods. Normalizing your insulin and leptin levels by avoiding sugar and fructose is one of the most powerful physical actions you can take to lower your risk of cancer. Unfortunately, very few oncologists appreciate or apply this knowledge today. Refined fructose is especially dangerous, as research shows it actually speeds up cancer growth.

Optimize your vitamin D level. Ideally it should be over 50 ng/ml, but levels from 70-100 ng/ml will radically reduce your cancer risk. Safe sun exposure is the most effective way to increase your vitamin D levels, followed by using a tanning bed that has an electronic ballast instead of a magnetic one. Either of these methods is far better than taking a high-dose supplement, which would necessitate increasing your intake of vitamin K2 as well, either from food or a supplement.

Make intermittent fasting part of your lifestyle. Intermittent fasting will help your body shift to burning fat instead of sugar as its primary fuel. There are only two types of fuel; your body can burn carbs/sugar or fat. Nearly everyone who has cancer is burning carbs as their primary fuel. Since cancer cells thrive on sugar this is something you want to avoid.

Intermittent fasting involves timing your meals to allow for regular periods of fasting. To be effective, the length of your fast must be at least 16 hours. This means eating only between the hours of 11am until 7pm, as an example. Essentially, this equates to simply skipping breakfast, and making lunch your first meal of the day instead.

Maintain a healthy body weight. It's important to lose excess weight because estrogen is produced in fat tissue. Fortunately, this will come naturally when you begin eating right and exercising. Intermittent fasting is also extremely effective for weight loss and weight management.

Get plenty of high-quality animal-based omega-3 fats, such as those from krill oil. Omega-3 deficiency is a common underlying factor for cancer.

Drink a pint to a quart of organic green vegetable juice daily.

Avoid drinking alcohol, or limit your drinks to one a day for women.

Watch out for excessive iron levels. This is actually very common once women stop menstruating. The extra iron actually works as a powerful oxidant, increasing free radicals and raising your risk of cancer. So if you are a post-menopausal woman or have breast cancer you will certainly want to have your Ferritin level drawn. Ferritin is the iron transport protein and should not be above 80. If it is elevated you can simply donate your blood to reduce it.

Get proper sleep, both in terms of enough sleep, and sleeping between certain hours. According to Ayurvedic medicine, the ideal hours for sleep are between 10 pm and 6 am. Modern research has confirmed the value of this recommendation as certain hormonal fluctuations occur throughout the day and night, and if you engage in the appropriate activities during those times, you're 'riding the wave' so to speak, and are able to get the optimal levels. Working against your biology by staying awake when you should ideally be sleeping or vice versa, interferes with these hormonal fluctuations. If you have children, breastfeed exclusively for up to six months. Research shows this will reduce your breast cancer risk.

If you have children breastfeed exclusively for up to six months. Research shows this will reduce your breast cancer risk.