Prevention of Breast Cancer

There is no absolute way to prevent breast cancer, but there is excellent information about how to reduce the risk that you will develop breast cancer.

Most studies of risk have looked at groups of women who do, or do not, have some characteristic and then looked at how many women develop breast cancer in each group. For example, researchers have compared women who drink alcohol to women who don’t drink alcohol to see which women develop more breast cancer.

Based on this kind research, there are three things that are within the control of every woman that will reduce the chance that she will develop breast cancer.

Exercise. Women who exercise the equivalent of walking briskly for three-and-a-half hours each week reduce their risk of developing breast cancer. This works even if a woman does not lose weight.

Maintain normal weight. Women who maintain a normal weight have less breast cancer and recent research suggests that women who lose more than 20 pounds after menopause also reduce their risk of developing breast cancer. A woman who is already at a normal weight will reduce her risk even more by exercising regularly.

Limit Alcohol. Studies that look at large enough groups of women consistently find that drinking any alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer. The increase in breast cancer caused by alcohol is greater in women who have already gone through menopause. For women who have gone through menopause, one drink a day (3.5 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, or 1.5 ounces of hard liquor) will increase the risk of breast cancer by about one-third. The effect is smaller in women who have not gone through menopause.

A low fat diet may help, but that is not definitely proven. The large prospective study of a low-fat diet found a trend toward reduced breast cancer, but the results are not yet conclusive.