Many charities have an awareness day throughout the year, but breast cancer has an awareness campaign that lasts a whole month! If you have ever wondered why…I will tell you – Breast Cancer is the most common cancer in the UK and worldwide. The life-time risk of being diagnosed is 1 in 9, in 2008 that equated to 48,034 diagnosed with Breast Cancer. In the same year 12116 people died from the disease according to stats provided by Cancer Research UK.
Breast cancer is normally a combination of your genes, your lifestyle and your family history. Obviously you cannot control all of these things, but there are things that you can do that can reduce the risk or make an impact on your recovery should you get a diagnosis:
Review your alcohol consumption. Small amounts of alcohol induce hormone changes, particularly oestrogen which is related to certain breast cancers, so calculate your units, check % of alcohol in drinks and have at least two alcohol free days per week.
One of the best ways to minimise your risk of breast cancer is to be a healthy body weight. Abdominal obesity is a especially risk for this type of cancer particularly in post menopausal women. So check your Body Mass Index (BMI), keep a food diary and start a diet if needed aiming to lose a sensible 1-2lbs per week.
Even if you do not need to lose weight, you can still improve your diet by increasing your intake of fruits, fibre and vegetables. Monitoring the fat and salt levels in your diet as well as increasing your consumption of whole grains will prove to be good advice as a preventative measure for all type of cancers.
Moderate exercise such as walking for 30 mins 5 times a week is widely accepted as having the ability to reduce breast cancer risk, especially if combined with healthy eating. Think housework, gardening, walking etc.
Breast screening helps to detect cancers early and it’s offered to all women between the ages of 50 and 70 in the UK. Treatment options are also improving all the time and may range from surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy to hormone therapy drugs such as tamoxifen and anastrozole. Self checking is an important part of looking after yourself – you should be looking for any changes in size or shape, changes in skin texture such as dimpling, inverted nipple, thickening of the tissue, discharge, pain and or swelling in breast, armpit or collarbone.
www.breastcancercare.org.uk gave us this checklist:
Know what is normal for you.
Know what to look or feel for.
LOOK & FEEL.
Tell your GP about any changes straight away.
Go for breast screening when invited.
Cancer Research UK (www.cancerresearchuk.org) is the largest single funder of breast cancer research in the UK; in the last year they have spent £41million funding work to help people with the disease. Celebrities, retailers and supermarkets are all on board – so think pink in October and join the cause.
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