Adopt a healthy lifestyle to battle breast cancer
With so many gaps in detection, taking a protective stance is vital
Q: There are so many contradictory opinions about the best way to detect breast cancer. I don’t know what to believe. What works?
A: Great question. There’s a lot of confusion because of the data being released from a 1980 Canadian mammography study and its 25-yearlong followup.
The conclusions? Mammograms don’t prevent more deaths from breast cancer than today’s standard medical care for ages 40-49, or annual breast exams for those 50-59.
But here’s the shocker: Mammograms lead to a substantial number of false positives and unnecessary treatment.
A whopping 22 per cent of mammogram-detected breast cancers in this study turned out to be overdiagnosis!
Still, cancers detected in the study’s mammogram group were somewhat smaller and less likely to have spread to the lymph nodes than those detected in the control group.
This means that some women who did NOT get mammograms may have needed more aggressive surgery and treatment to attain the same positive results as those in the mammogram group.
So where does that leave you? Our best advice: ❚ Try to see the same gynecologist year after year for your breast exams. Having a doctor who knows your family and personal medical history is important. ❚ Get a baseline mammogram at age 40 … or 50 (we debate this, as do many organizations); then every two years after that. But have your first mammogram earlier and more frequently if you have any family history of breast cancer or are BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 positive. MRIs are also recommended for this group. ❚ A monthly breast self-exam isn’t recommended. But if you’re too young for a mammogram, a self-exam plus an annual exam at your doctor’s may be your best bet for early detection. ❚ We also recommend you live an anti-breast-cancer life. Start walking 10,000 steps daily, no excuses.
After two months, add 30 minutes of resistance exercises and 20 minutes of cardio three times a week. One minute of resistance or cardio equals 100 steps; you can count them in your 10,000 daily steps. ❚ Also, maintain a healthy weight; eat nine servings of fruits and vegetables daily; avoid saturated fats and all red meat; limit alcohol intake; meditate to help manage your stress reactions.
And perhaps most importantly: Eliminate all added sugars and syrups from your diet! Q: My dad has had Type 2 diabetes for about 10 years (he takes metformin) and was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. It’s localized, so they’re going to treat it with external beam radiation. He’s been through a lot; is there anything I can do or say to make him feel better? — Amy D. A: We’re sorry that your dad (and you) are contending with these health issues. There is always a risk of increased cancer when someone has high blood sugar levels, and that’s certainly the case with Type 2 diabetes.
Prostate cancer (and breast cancer too) also may be associated with Type 2 diabetes through genetic predisposition, and because the increased insulin production that happens when blood sugar levels are chronically high affects cell synthesis in the prostate and breast.
But there is some good news.
A recent study from Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York looked at men like your dad, with prostate cancer who were treated with external beam radiation and also were taking the Type 2 oral medication metformin. These guys had much better outcomes than diabetics diagnosed with prostate cancer who were not taking metformin and even those who didn’t have diabetes.
The facts: Eight to 10 years after initial diagnosis, metformin users were more than five times less likely to die from prostate cancer than men with prostate cancer who were not taking metformin.
They also were almost four times as likely to be alive and free of distant metastases.
(There’s also some evidence that breast cancer outcomes may be improved if standard anti-cancer treatment is combined with metformin.)
So make sure your dad talks to his diabetes and cancer doctors about staying on metformin.