Experts are now saying that the focus should shift to changing behaviors such as physical activity and diet to slow down breast cancer.  This has been a very sensitive debate.  Right now we are doing all we can with early diagnosis and mammogram screening along with better treatments.  Now they say it is time to do more with our diet and exercise.

People typically think that cancer is in their genes versus anything having to do with their lifestyle.  That way of thinking may not be as cut and dried as we may think.  Did you know that in the United States in 2009 we saw more than 190,000 new cases of breast cancer and 40,000 deaths.  Those numbers are very frightening.

A woman’s chance of getting breast cancer is about 1 out of 8, and obese women are up to 60% more likely to get cancer.  They say breast cancers are fueled by estrogen, which is a hormone produced in fat tissue.  Experts suspect that the fatter a woman is, the more estrogen she is likely to produce.  Even exercise by slimmer women is believed to help reduce the cancer risk by converting more fat into muscle.

This has been a very sensitive issue because some misconstrue this information as saying that women are being blamed for their disease.  I guess the bottom line here is that the information should get out and we can either take it or leave it.  Younger women should be educated on everything there is to know about preventing breast cancer.  If there is any way to help prevent breast cancer, I would think this would be something everyone would be interested in – sensitive or not.