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2007-9-3 23:18:56 |
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A new study by Canadian researchers shows that women who have denser breasts are three or four times more likely to develop breast cancer than those who have fattiest breast. Dr. Norman Boyd of the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto and colleagues say in their report published in New England Journal of Medicine that the breast density could be an independent risk factor for breast cancer. It's not news to some people that women who have dense breasts are more vulnerable to breast cancer. But why some women have dense breasts remain unclear. Breast cancer will be diagnosed in 180,510 men and women in 2007 in the United States and 40,900 will die of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. In addition to the breast density, risks often publicized include family history of breast cancer and BRCA gene variations and the age at which a woman has her first child. The less publicized yet important risk factors for breast cancer include exposure to x-ray and consumption of diet with high amounts of meat and dairy food. According to John Gofman, Ph.D. and M.D., a distinguished nuclear physicist and physician at the University of California- Los Angeles, x-ray exposure is implicated in 75 percent of breast cancer cases. X-ray and other ionizing radiations are officially recognized as human carcinogen by the U.S. federal government. Interest groups downplay the risk, saying the medical exposure to x-ray is safe or its benefit outweighs its risk. Critics do not agree. Another important risk factor for breast cancer is consumption of a meaty diet, according to Dr. T. Colin Campbell, a distinguished nutrition professor from Cornell University. In his gook titled The China Study", Dr. Campbell suggests that girls in the West who eat lots of fat and meat enter puberty at age 11 or 12 on average compared to 16 to 18 for women in poor country. Dr. Campbell says girls who get puberty earlier will enter menopause later. Both effects combined, women who follow a meaty diet will have extra 10 to 15-year exposure to estrogen than women who consume no or lowest meat and fat in poor countries. Estrogen is a known risk factor for breast cancer in many women. Share this article on => |
