Last week we started a series based on Dr Kristi Funk’s book “Breasts: an owner’s manual”. I have found so much information in this easy-to-read encyclopaedia of knowledge for all things related to breasts.
I must share a little joke. I took the book on our trip to Norway in December and used the many hours sitting in the plane and airport to read through and underline high points – my particular learning method. My wife and adult daughter were not a little uncomfortable with me displaying the title of the book to my seat mates – imagining people thinking I was a bit kinky. I figured this is a free world, and if that is what they want to think, so be it. After all men also have breasts!
ALSO READ: Turning the Tide – Lifestyle Medicine and Breast Cancer (Part 1)
As we mentioned last week, breast cancer is a major problem in South Africa, as in the rest of the world. Although our rates are not yet as high as in the US, the incidence is rising in tandem with adoption of a Western-type diet and lifestyle. South Africa has the highest rates in Africa, as our country also leads the way in diabetes and obesity for this continent – to a large extent all related to one another.
As with any lifestyle disease, it is tempting to blame some outside or genetic factor as the cause.
This lets us off the hook in managing our risks and minimises anything we can do to mitigate that risk. Lifestyle medicine experts acknowledge that there is much in our environment that increases risks of chronic diseases, but in fact the greatest risks are those over which you have control, through many of the choices you make every day. That is probably not what you want to hear – and yet it is also in a sense empowering because it strongly influences the outcome of positive choices you make.
This week we will touch on some of the myths out there that Dr Funk debunks:
- Myth – breast cancer is driven primarily by genetics. Many people believe that genetics and heredity have a large part to play in the incidence of breast cancer. In fact only 5-10% of breast cancers prove to be hereditary. Amongst identical twins, who share genetic identity, only 20% of sisters affected will get cancer – a figure similar to non-identical siblings. This would suggest similar lifestyles, rather than genes.
- Myth – diet doesn’t affect breast cancer. Some of the processes through which diet affects cancer development include elevated oestrogen levels and inflammation, blood vessel formation within tumours, cellular function and destructive free radicals. Highly processed foods, animal products, foods exposed to high heat – all can contribute to increasing the risks of cancer, and inhibit the body’s response to cancer cells.
- The type of bra/no bra or wearing a bra for prolonged periods is said by some to be related to cancer. However there is no scientific support for this myth.
- Antiperspirants and deodorants do not affect cancer risk.
- Hair products – straighteners and relaxers, shampoos, conditioners, oils, dyes and root stimulators have not been found to have any direct effect on breast cancer risk. However many do have oestrogen compounds which may affect early onset of puberty – and this may increase the risk of breast cancer in the long term.
- Cell phones have not been found to increase the risk of breast cancer.
- X-rays as found in CT scans, chest x-rays and mammograms may affect the DNA in breast cells, but even flying in a commercial airline can expose you to similar amounts of solar radiation. The benefits of these investigations far outweigh any risks.
- Myth – oral contraceptive pills cause breast cancer. Dr Funk explains that there is a risk, but this is small, and rapidly wanes after stopping the pill. Again one must look at the benefit vs risk ratio. My understanding is that modern low dose pills probably have less risk.
- Myth – infertility treatments are said to increase the risk of breast cancer. There is no good evidence to suggest taking infertility medications increases this risk. Two meta-analyses that pooled a total of 1,5 million women who underwent IVF showed no increased risk – in fact instead a protective effect.
- Breast implants do not cause breast cancer.
- Breast reduction surgery does not cause breast cancer.
The above is just an overview of the chapter on myths about breast cancer, interspersed with some of my observations. You would do well to obtain your own copy of the book for more information.
Next week we will give a brief overview of the recommendations for foods that protect against breast cancer. The week after we will discuss foods to avoid. Why are we spending so much time on dietary influences?
It so happens that your diet probably has the single biggest effect on your risk – not only for breast cancer but also for an even greater killer of women – heart disease.
Of course other factors like exercise, stress control and adequate sleep and rest are also important, and will be covered later in this series.
I trust that this series will alert you to practical interventions you can implement to minimise your risk of cancer but also so many of the other lifestyle diseases that affect our families. If you are also a wife and/or mother, you have a powerful influence over the health of your whole family. You owe it to them to care for your own health and theirs.
Have a great week.
Dave Glass
Dr David Glass graduated from UCT in 1975. He spent the next 12 years working at a mission hospital in Lesotho, where much of his work involved health education and interventions to improve health, aside from the normal busy clinical work of an under-resourced mission hospital.
He returned to UCT in 1990 to specialise in obstetrics/gynaecology and then moved to the South Coast where he had the privilege of, amongst other things, ushering 7000 babies into the world. He no longer delivers babies but is still very clinically active in gynaecology.
An old passion, preventive health care, has now replaced the obstetrics side of his work. He is eager to share insights he has gathered over the years on how to prevent and reverse so many of the modern scourges of lifestyle – obesity, diabetes, ischaemic heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, common cancers, etc.
He is a family man, with a supportive wife, and two grown children, and four beautiful grandchildren. His hobbies include walking, cycling, vegetable gardening, bird-watching, travelling and writing. He is active in community health outreach and deeply involved in church activities. He enjoys teaching and sharing information.
