[Wellness] Re: Wellness Digest, Vol 11, Issue 8

["Ellen Merat" <boulevard@ozemail.com.au>]

Thank you Karen.  This email was very informative and thank you for all the
very interesting fact you send in your emails.  Take care and I hope all
goes well for you.

Regards

Ellen
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <wellness-request@womens-wellness.com>
To: <wellness@womens-wellness.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 2:00 AM
Subject: Wellness Digest, Vol 11, Issue 8


> Send Wellness mailing list submissions to
> wellness@womens-wellness.com
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/wellness
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> wellness-request@womens-wellness.com
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> wellness-owner@womens-wellness.com
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Wellness digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Facts about Breast Cancer (Karen Patterson)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 11:02:23 -0400
> From: "Karen Patterson" <Patterson@womens-wellness.com>
> Subject: [Wellness] Facts about Breast Cancer
> To: "Wellness List" <wellness@womens-wellness.com>
> Message-ID:
> <NEBBLCDEKLCOEJPMCCFCMELHCEAB.Patterson@womens-wellness.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Because the causes and cure of breast cancer are not yet fully known, many
> people have misconceptions about the disease.  During this month in
> particular I think it is important to state the facts:
>
> While the risk of breast cancer increases with age, all women are at risk
> for getting breast cancer.
>
> Most women who get breast cancer have no family history of the disease.
> However, a woman whose mother, sister, or daughter had breast cancer has
an
> increased risk.
>
> Just because you do not have a mutated BRCA@ or BRCA2 gene, you can still
> get breast cancer.  About 90 to 95 percent of women who get breast cancer
> actually do not have an inherited form of breast cancer, or a mutated
BRCA1
> or BRCA2
>
> The majority of women diagnosed with breast cancer have no known risk
> factors outside their gender.  All women are at risk.
>
> >From American Cancer Society:
>
> Family history of breast cancer: Breast cancer risk is higher among women
> whose close blood relatives have this disease. Your risk of developing
> breast cancer is increased if:
>
> You have 2 or more relatives with breast or ovarian cancer.
>
> Breast cancer occurs before age 50 in a relative (mother, sister,
> grandmother or aunt) on either side of the family. The risk is higher if
> your mother or sister has a history of breast cancer.
>
> You have relatives with both breast and ovarian cancer.
>
> You have 1 or more relatives with two cancers (breast and ovarian, or 2
> different breast cancers).
>
> You have a male relative (or relatives) with breast cancer.
>
> You have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer and Ashkenazi Jewish
> heritage.
>
> Your family history includes a history of diseases associated with
> hereditary breast cancer such as Li-Fraumeni or Cowdens Syndromes.
> Having 1 first-degree relative (mother, sister, or daughter) with breast
> cancer approximately doubles a woman's risk, and having 2 first-degree
> relatives increases her risk 5-fold. Although the exact risk is not known,
> women with a family history of breast cancer in a father or brother also
> have an increased risk of breast cancer. Altogether, about 20% to 30% of
> women with breast cancer have a family member with this disease.
>
> Personal history of breast cancer: A woman with cancer in one breast has a
> 3- to 4-fold increased risk of developing a new cancer in the other breast
> or in another part of the same breast. This is different from a recurrence
> (return) of the first cancer.
>
> Race: White women are slightly more likely to develop breast cancer than
are
> African-American women. But African-American women are more likely to die
of
> this cancer. Many experts now feel that the main reason for this is
because
> African-American women have more aggressive tumors (see basal-like breast
> cancer, below). The reasons for this are not known. Asian, Hispanic, and
> Native American women have a lower risk of developing and dying from
breast
> cancer.
>
> Previous abnormal breast biopsy: Women whose earlier breast biopsies
> detected any of these changes have a slightly higher risk of breast cancer
> (1.5 to 2 times greater than other women):
>
> fibroadenoma with complex features
> hyperplasia without atypia
> sclerosing adenosis
> multiple papillomas
> Atypical hyperplasia (ductal or lobular) increases a woman's breast cancer
> risk by 4 to 5 times.
>
> Having a biopsy specimen diagnosed as fibrocystic changes without
> proliferative breast disease or fibroadenoma does not affect breast cancer
> risk.
>
> Previous breast radiation: Women who as children or young adults have had
> radiation therapy to the chest area as treatment for another cancer (such
as
> Hodgkin disease or non-Hodgkin lymphoma) are at significantly increased
risk
> for breast cancer. Some reports found the risk to be 12 times normal risk.
> This varies with the age of the patient at the time of radiation. Younger
> patients have a higher risk. If chemotherapy was also given, the risk may
be
> lowered if the chemotherapy stops ovarian hormone production.
>
> Menstrual periods: Women who started menstruating at an early age (before
> age 12) or who went through menopause at a late age (after age 55) have a
> slightly higher risk of breast cancer.
>
> Diethylstilbestrol (DES): In the 1940s through the 1960s some pregnant
women
> were given diethylstilbestrol because it was thought to lower their
chances
> of losing the baby. Recent studies have shown that these women have a
> slightly increased risk of developing breast cancer.
>
> Lifestyle-Related Factors and Breast Cancer Risk
>
> Not having children: Women who have had no children or who had their first
> child after age 30 have a slightly higher breast cancer risk. Having
> multiple pregnancies and becoming pregnant at an early age reduces breast
> cancer risk.
>
> Oral contraceptive use: It is still not certain what part oral
> contraceptives (birth control pills) might play in breast cancer risk.
> Studies have suggested that women now using oral contraceptives have a
> slightly greater risk of breast cancer than women who have never used
them.
> Women who stopped using oral contraceptives more than 10 years ago do not
> appear to have any increased breast cancer risk. When considering using
oral
> contraceptives, women should discuss their other risk factors for breast
> cancer with their health care team.
>
> Hormone replacement therapy: It has become clear that long-term use
(several
> years or more) of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) after menopause,
> particularly estrogens and progesterone combined increase your risk of
> breast cancer. They may also increase your chances of dying of breast
> cancer.
>
> If you still have your uterus (womb), doctors generally prescribe estrogen
> and progesterone (known as combined HRT). Estrogen relieves menopausal
> symptoms and delays osteoporosis (thinning of the bones that can lead to
> fractures). But estrogen can increase the risk of developing cancer of the
> uterus. Progesterone is added to help prevent this.
>
> If you no longer have your uterus, estrogen alone can be prescribed. This
is
> commonly known as estrogen replacement therapy (ERT). This probably does
not
> increase the risk of breast cancer very much, if at all.
>
> Several large studies, including the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), have
> found that there is an increased risk of breast cancer related to the use
of
> combined HRT. The most recent results from the WHI found that not only did
> combined HRT increase breast cancer risk, but it also increased the
> likelihood that the cancer would be found at a more advanced stage. This
is
> because it appeared to reduce the effectiveness of mammography, as more
> abnormal findings on mammograms were noted. A large study from the United
> Kingdom has now found that women who took the combined therapy were also
> more likely to die of breast cancer than women who didn't.
>
> The risk of HRT appears to apply only to current and recent users, and a
> woman's breast cancer risk seems to return to that of the general
population
> within 5 years of stopping HRT.
>
> Estrogen alone (ERT) does not appear to increase the risk of developing
> breast cancer. In fact, a separate part of the large WHI study found that
it
> may slightly decrease the risk (although it was linked to an increased
risk
> of stroke).
>
> At this time there appear to be few strong reasons to use hormone
> replacement therapy (combined HRT or ERT), other than possibly for the
> temporary relief of menopausal symptoms. In addition to the increased risk
> of breast cancer, the WHI found that combined HRT also increased the risk
of
> heart disease, blood clots, and strokes, and did not have a beneficial
> effect on mental function or preventing Alzheimer's disease. It did lower
> the risk of colorectal cancer and osteoporosis, but this must be weighed
> against the possible harms, and with the understanding that there are
other
> effective ways to prevent osteoporosis. And, as noted above, while ERT did
> not seem to have much effect on the risk of breast cancer, it did increase
> the risk of stroke.
>
> The decision to use hormone replacement therapy after menopause should be
> made by the woman and her doctor after weighing the possible risks
> (including increased risk of heart disease, breast cancer, strokes, and
> blood clots) and benefits (relief of menopausal symptoms, reduced risk of
> osteoporosis), and considering each woman's other risk factors for heart
> disease, breast cancer, osteoporosis, and the severity of her menopausal
> symptoms.
>
> Breast-feeding and pregnancy: Some studies suggest that breast-feeding may
> slightly lower breast cancer risk, especially if breast-feeding is
continued
> for 1.5 to 2 years. Other studies found no impact on breast cancer risk.
>
> The explanation of this may be that both pregnancy and breast-feeding
reduce
> a woman's total number of lifetime menstrual cycles. This may be similar
to
> the reduction of risk due to late menarche (start of menstrual periods) or
> early menopause, which also decrease the total number of menstrual cycles.
> One study concluded that having more children and breast-feeding longer
> could reduce the risk of breast cancer by half.
>
> Alcohol: Use of alcohol is clearly linked to an increased risk of
developing
> breast cancer. The risk increases with the amount of alcohol consumed.
> Compared with nondrinkers, women who consume 1 alcoholic drink a day have
a
> very small increase in risk, and those who have 2 to 5 drinks daily have
> about 1½ times the risk of women who drink no alcohol. Alcohol is also
known
> to increase the risk of developing cancers of the mouth, throat, and
> esophagus. The American Cancer Society recommends limiting your
consumption
> of alcohol.
>
> Obesity and high-fat diets: Obesity (being overweight) has been found to
be
> a breast cancer risk in all studies, especially for women after menopause.
> Although your ovaries produce most of your estrogen, fat tissue produces a
> small amount of estrogen. Having more fat tissue can increase your
estrogen
> levels and increase your likelihood of developing breast cancer.
>
> The connection between weight and breast cancer risk is complex, however.
> For examplerisk appears to be increased for women who gained weight as an
> adult but is not increased among those who have been overweight since
> childhood. Also, excess fat in the waist area may affect risk more than
the
> same amount of fat in the hips and thighs. Researchers believe that fat
> cells in various parts of the body have subtle differences in their
> metabolism that may explain this observation.
>
> Studies of fat in the diet have not clearly shown that this is a breast
> cancer risk factor. Most studies found that breast cancer is less common
in
> countries where the typical diet is low in total fat, low in
polyunsaturated
> fat, and low in saturated fat.
>
> On the other hand, many studies of women in the United States have not
found
> breast cancer risk to be related to dietary fat intake. Researchers are
> still not sure how to explain this apparent disagreement. Many scientists
> note that studies comparing diet and breast cancer risk in different
> countries are complicated by other differences (such as activity level,
> intake of other nutrients, genetic factors) that might also alter breast
> cancer risk.
>
> More research is needed to better understand the effect of the types of
fat
> eaten and body weight on breast cancer risk. But it is clear that calories
> do count and fat is a major source of these. A diet high in fat has also
> been shown to influence the risk of developing several other types of
> cancer, and intake of certain types of fat is clearly related to heart
> disease risk. We recommend you maintain a healthy weight and limit your
> intake of red meats, especially those high in fat or processed.
>
> Physical activity: Evidence is growing that physical activity in the form
of
> exercise reduces breast cancer risk. The only question is how much
exercise
> is needed. In one study from the Women's Health Initiative as little as
1.25
> to 2.5 hours per week of brisk walking reduced a woman's risk by 18%.
> Walking 10 hours a week reduced the risk a little more.
>
>
> I am asked about risk factors often by friends and acquaitances so I
thought
> it very important to share with you.
> My best for health and wellness,
> Karen Patterson, Founder of Womens-Wellness.com and a breast cancer
survivor
>
> --
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.1.361 / Virus Database: 267.12.5/149 - Release Date: 10/25/2005
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Messages sent are the opinions of the sender and not Womens-Wellness.com
>
>
> Wellness mailing list
> Wellness@womens-wellness.com
> http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/wellness
>
>
> End of Wellness Digest, Vol 11, Issue 8
> ***************************************

_______________________________________________
Messages sent are the opinions of the sender and not Womens-Wellness.com


Wellness mailing list
Wellness@womens-wellness.com
http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/wellness