Breast Cancer Awareness Month - The One Thing You Should Do

It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October 2008.

If you’re Malaysian and you didn’t already know, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer afflicting Malaysian women of all races. Breast Cancer doesn’t discriminate - whether you’re Malay, Indian, Chinese or everything in-between, or in other words - MALAYSIAN - this concerns you.

It’s funny how in today’s society when we are actually getting more advanced, and supposedly better at combating/preventing disease, etc - the statistics for almost any form of disease just never seems to get any better.

The Malaysian Health Ministry’s National Cancer Registry indicates that the incidence of breast cancer in 2003 was 46.2 for every 100,000 women - which is 1 IN EVERY 19 women is at risk of getting breast cancer in her lifetime.

So… what can you do?

1. Get Yourself Checked. Don’t delay.
Survey findings by the National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN) for 2004 indicates only 53.2% of women in Malaysia ever having done a clinical breast examination.

2. Take Preventive Measures. Start NOW.
Now this is the part that seems to be rarely highlighted in Breast Cancer Awareness Campaigns - but yes… there are factors in our lifestyle that can be modified to significantly cut down the risk of developing breast cancer. Poor lifestyle decisions/day-to-day choices - a poor diet, a sedentary lifestyle, alcohol, and smoking DO affect breast cancer risk, among numerous other health problems.

Not convinced? Read some of these statements/quotes I’ve gathered from various sources:

“We found a beneficial effect on survival for exercise undertaken in the year before diagnosis, particularly among women who were overweight or obese near the time they were diagnosed with breast cancer,” Dr. Page E. Abrahamson of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

“It is now well established that being overweight increases the risk of developing several types of cancer,” said Professor Tim Key, Cancer Research UK.

“While women with a family history of breast cancer didn’t have a reduced risk with exercise, all of the other women did, regardless of how old they were when they started exercising,” Dr. Brian L. Sprague of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His team interviewed 7,630 women who were free of breast cancer, 1,689 with very early-stage or in situ disease, and 6,391 with invasive breast cancer. All of the women ranged in age from 20 to 69.
SOURCE: Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, February 2007.

The team at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles said exercise may reduce cancer risk through changes in metabolism and the immune system, and by reducing weight gain. The study, appearing in the Archives of Internal Medicine, involved 110,599 women in California whose health histories were tracked from 1995 onward.

The breast cancer-promoting effects of cigarette smoking may be strongest in young women who have not yet had children, an international research team reports. “Our results are consistent with the biologic data indicating that the female breast is sensitive to tobacco carcinogens before first childbirth,” and may be especially sensitive before menstruation begins, Dr. Mina Ha of Dankook University College of Medicine in Cheonan, Korea and her colleagues conclude. The researchers looked at 56,042 women participating in a long-term study of radiologic technologists. All were free of breast cancer when they were surveyed - between 1983 to 1993, but 906 developed the disease before the second survey, in 1994-1998.

A new study in the journal Epidemiology adds to evidence that women can cut their breast cancer risk by being physically active.
Dr. Beata Peplonska of the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Lodz, Poland, and her colleagues also found that the benefits appeared to be particularly strong for women who boosted their recreational activity levels in their 50s.

Keeping slim is one of the best ways of preventing cancer, as is avoiding excessive amounts of red meat and wine, a landmark study has revealed. The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) said the link between body fat and cancer is closer than generally realised.
It found convincing evidence of a link to six types of cancer, five more than in its last report, 10 years ago. The WCRF report can be found at: http://www.dietandcancerreport.org/.

The exact cause of breast cancer is not known.. factors that can increase a woman’s risk include heredity, early puberty, late childbearing, obesity, and lifestyle factors such as heavy alcohol consumption and smoking. The biggest risk factor for breast cancer is age — just growing older. Most breast cancers occur in women over the age of 50, and women over 60 are at the highest risk. The risk for developing breast cancer increases if her mother, sister, daughter, or two or more other close relatives, such as cousins, have a history of breast cancer, especially at a young age. However, 85% of women who develop breast cancer have NO known family history of the disease.

I could go on and on.. but I’m sure you get what I’m trying to say. Enough evidence exists that exercise/physical activity can help reduce the risk of developing breast cancer.

As Malaysia lights up it’s Menara KL (KL Tower) in pink for Breast Cancer Awareness, I’d like to call on all Malaysian women to not just stop at ‘knowing’ what breast cancer is - but to actually do something about it. Yes, giving donations are good, and wearing a pink ribbon is a nice thing to do. Having grand charity functions with VIPs dressed up in pink and spending hundreds of thousands of ringgit of taxpayers money ‘may’ also be good - but really now, if you want to make a REAL difference - to yourself, your family, and the generations after you - dust your sneakers and start exercising. You’ve got nothing to lose, but everything to gain.

For more information on Breast Cancer, I urge you to go over to http://www.breastcancer.org. The site has breaking news on the latest breast cancer research, information on symptoms, diagnosis and treatment options, support discussion boards, online conferences, and much more.

Read also:

1. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
2. The dailymuscle.com Breast Cancer Awareness Ribbon Giveaway!
3. Study Strongly Links Fat To Cancer