Breast Cancer Risk: What You Can or Cannot Control

A federal panel recently advised women to get a mammogram every other year starting at age 40, rather than 50. The American Cancer Society estimates this nearly 300,000 women in the United States will learn they have breast cancer, and approximately 43,700 women will lose their life due to the disease.

The headlines are reminders to know one’s breast cancer risks. While many risks are out of your control, there’s just as much a person can control, said Heather Chambers, a breast health navigator at OSF HealthCare.

Major Risks You Can Control

Active lifestyle and healthy eating: Chambers puts it plainly, if you eat junk, you’ll feel like junk. Any exercise will give you more energy and burn fat, and fat produces estrogen, which feeds cancer cells.

“You want to make sure you’re well-maintained with your weight, even after menopause,” Chambers said.

Taking hormones: This impacts the ovaries, reducing or adding estrogen. Whether a patient is at a routine appointment or has been diagnosed with breast cancer, talk to the provider about what hormones you’re taking.

“We don’t encourage people who are having menopause symptoms [like hot flashes] to take hormones,” Chambers lists as an example. “We encourage other things to help treat those. It eliminates those estrogen cells increasing.”

Alcohol and smoking: They are a risk for any type of cancer, but she said one drink per day can increase a woman’s breast cancer risk by 12 percent. Alcohol is sugary, and that’s a fuel for estrogen.

Night shift work: Chambers noted the body expects to sleep when the sun goes down. Night work throws that off. If you don’t work the traditional day job, see if you can work different shifts so you’re not up all night all the time.

“You’re getting artificial light all night. That changes the melatonin the body naturally makes,” Chambers explained. “When your melatonin is off, it increases estrogen.”

Risks You Can’t Control

Age: Chambers says women generally develop breast cancer at age 50 and above.

Family history and genetic mutations: A family history of breast cancer puts a person at higher risk. Chambers said higher risk often is seen on the person’s mother’s side of the family. For example, your mother and her sister (your aunt) may have breast cancer, and so one needs to talk to the provider about their risk. Some women diagnosed with breast cancer and who have a family history may undergo a genetic test.

“Those tests can tell us if this is something being passed down from generation to generation,” Chambers remarked.

Reproductive history: Young women who begin menstruating before age 12 and women who go through menopause after age 55 have an increased risk.

“That gives them a longer time with their ovaries working, and they’re producing estrogen,” Chambers explained.

Dense breast: More tissue and less fat mean a dense breast and an increased cancer risk, said Chambers. Usually, the younger you are, the denser the breast is. Breast density is something noted on every mammogram result, and mammogram technology is getting better at finding cancer in dense tissue. An early diagnosis may mean a better outcome.

Takeaways

Make sure your health care providers knows your circumstances so they can decide on the best preventive care, such as a different schedule for mammograms. Some of the information to have handy include a family history of cancer and any physical change noticed during a monthly breast self-check.

Learn more about breast health and breast cancer care on the OSF HealthCare website.