Last month, the New York Times published a front page article highlighting a major Canadian study that has found that yearly mammograms do not reduce the number of deaths from breast cancer. So how do we best keep an eye on prevention? Below is a summary of the study as well as specific recommendations on breast cancer prevention.
What the study concludes:
The study states that there is no advantage in finding breast tumors so early – as in when they are too small to feel. As many as 1 in 3 of these cancers are so slow growing they would never have become life threatening. Many would have simply shrunk or disappear on their own. But mammography finds these small tumors very early on. And once the biopsy identifies the tissue as cancerous, the routine procedure is then surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, no matter how non-aggressive a cancer it is.
There is no “watchful waiting” period as there is with prostate cancer, in which the cancer is monitored for a few years to judge its rate of growth, if any. This means that a certain percentage of women are undergoing treatments for a cancer that would have never harmed them. As for finding cancers that are potentially life threatening – they would have been just as efficiently treated had they been allowed to grow to a size palpable by a routine breast exam.
In addition, mammograms and biopsies have their own risks. Yearly mammograms lead to an accumulation of radiation, a cancer risk itself. Biopsies can easily cause complications such as bacterial infections, injury to nearby organs, and can cause the spread of otherwise contained cancer cells.
What does it all mean?
Many of us have lost loved ones to breast cancer or know someone who has had breast cancer. Awareness of the disease is clearly high, all one needs to do is look around and see the pink ribbons that help us take note of this terrible illness. Despite all this awareness, it’s a curious case to take on a disease where the treatments can do harm to the body nearly as much as the disease and what’s more – early detection may not even help.
Due to breast cancer’s lethal potential, we, as a society, take a “better safe than sorry” approach and start attacking the cancer immediately. At the same time, we certainly don’t want to harm our bodies, or undergo any needless treatments.
Taking this study as a starting point to a conversation on breast cancer, below are a few points to I’d like you to consider as you or someone you know are making decisions around health:
1. The study discussed above specifically compared women who underwent yearly mammograms with women who just underwent yearly breast palpations, not women who did no checkups at all, in whom the rate of undetected cancer and death would have been higher. So while breast cancer experts may not agree on mammograms, they do agree on yearly breast palpation exams, and by extension, monthly self-exams.
2. Many women are choosing to opt for thermography instead of mammograms. Thermography is a non-contact technique for early detection of breast cancer without the hazard of radiation. An infrared camera takes thermal images (pictures) that can detect subtle changes in breast physiology. Thermography is not often used by the medical field, so women do have to pay out of pocket for this procedure. But it is becoming more readily available and used, and there are a few thermography centers in the Bay Area for those seeking this option out.
What about preventative measures?
Many of us feel as if we are sitting ducks when it comes to cancer. One way of empowering ourselves in prevention is to take advantage the technique I use to detect stressors in the body, that of Nutritional Analysis.
Nutritional Analysis can identify each person’s specific stressors that are creating pathological changes (i.e. – cancer type activities) in the body’s organs and tissues, including the breasts. From there a customized treatment approach can aim to remove these stressors, and thereby allow the body to heal itself. Some of the main stressors I’ve seen in clients are:
1. Heavy Metals. Heavy metals seem to play a part in most types of cancer. Mercury, lead, cadmium, and aluminum are the most common. Once heavy metals are lipo-trophic, meaning they attach easily to fatty cells in the breasts tissue, they create an inflammatory response as the body keeps trying, but is unable to, remove them. They create an environment that is easily invaded by pathogens like yeasts and bacteria and also tend to clog detoxification organs, such as the liver. This makes it difficult for the body to eliminate other toxins that can cause other problems.
2. Pesticides. Many common pesticides (such as ant, roach and mice poisons, as well as agricultural pesticides) have been linked to a variety of human diseases, including breast cancer. It probably shouldn’t surprise us that these compounds can be dangerous; they are designed to kill insects and rodents with which we share many common biological systems! Several pesticides are known endocrine disruptors (they disrupt natural hormone-signaling pathways), and through these mechanisms have been implicated in increased risk for breast cancer.
3. Xenoestrogen pollutants. Xenoestrogens are compounds such as PCB’s, plastics, and other industrial pollutants whose structure imitates estrogen. Many breast cancers are triggered by these false estrogens binding to their receptor sites.
4. Inflammatory foods. Many people are sensitive to certain foods without being aware of it. They intake these foods and the body responds with a subtle inflammatory response, some of which can affect breast tissue. These foods may include dairy or wheat, and almost always include genetically modified foods such as corn, canola, and soy.
5. Stress. Stress creates hormones that put the body at a greater risk for cancer. It lowers the immune system, and allows cellular mutations to occur more easily.
Breast tissue is vulnerable to all these stressors and more. The good news is that Nutritional Analysis can give us a customized plan of how detoxify the body and rid us of many if not all of these pain points.
Detoxifying breast tissue specifically, can also benefit the rest of the body, as breast tissue stressors reflect general stressors in the body. So while a treatment plan might be geared towards breast health, one’s overall health will improve as a result.
Ultimately, every woman has to make their own choice about if and when to use mammograms. Either way, know that Nutritional Analysis can act as a strong method of prevention on it’s own or in conjunction with other programs.
Take note my fellow health minded friends, arming yourself with greater knowledge about your body is the most empowering step towards good health against this and many other diseases as well.
