Breast Cancer and Diet: What’s the Connection?

When most women think about breast cancer, they likely think about a genetic cause—namely, the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes. While certain women are at a higher risk of breast cancer because of genetics and family history, for others the risk lies in the food we eat each day.

Breast cancer awareness month starts in just a few weeks, and what better way to learn about the disease than to know how your diet, which may include cancer-causing foods, is increasing your risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer?

Why What You Eat Matters

As a woman, you know all about breast cancer prevention, such as conducting self-checks at home and going in for regular mammograms. While these are steps in the right direction, they don’t promise true prevention, only early detection. One of the most overlooked risk factors is the food we eat. Because we have little say in our genetics, it only makes sense to take charge of the risk factors we can control, especially our diet.

Breast cancer awareness starts with understanding how what you eat impacts your risk of breast cancer. According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, 70% of all breast cancer deaths are avoidable through dietary change. There are also plenty of scientific studies that show how an unhealthy diet, especially the average Western diet, increases the risk of breast cancer and other forms of the disease.

A Poor Diet: The Most Common Culprit

There are many factors in what we eat that increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer, but one of the most notable factors is long-term exposure to a poor diet. This is especially true of women who consume a mostly Western-based diet, which mostly consists of fatty foods, dairy products, and processed meat.

A high-fat diet promotes the storage of synthetic estrogen chemicals that mimic estrogenic activity in the breast tissue. These chemicals are commonly found in hormones added to dairy and meat products. Some of the most problematic foods include:

• Junk food
• Processed food
• Dairy products
• Refined carbohydrates

By eating high quantities of these foods, you’re at an increased risk of breast cancer. On the other hand, a plant-based diet that mostly includes vegetables, fruits, and legumes may lower the risk of a cancer diagnosis.

Learn More About Diet & Breast Cancer

We’ve only scratched the surface of the connection between diet and breast cancer. If you want to learn more about cancer-causing foods, along with which diets are best for minimizing your risk of breast cancer, our e-Book titled Breast Cancer: Is it What You’re Eating or What’s Eating You? is well worth purchasing.

Visit our e-Book library or contact us toll-free at 1-888-551-2223 to learn more about how you can beat cancer by making better lifestyle choices.

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Source:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2515569/