Towards the breast cancer awareness month, we again discuss more about the risk of suffering breast cancer in women and how to be healthy breast at every age?
But the study and statistics showed some results which make women had better notice.
Your breast cancer risk:
20s:1 in 1,681
30s:1 in 232
40: 1 in 69
A woman’s chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer is:
- from age 30 through age 39 . . . . . . 0.43 percent (often expressed as “1 in 233”)
- from age 40 through age 49 . . . . . . 1.45 percent (often expressed as “1 in 69”)
- from age 50 through age 59 . . . . . . 2.38 percent (often expressed as “1 in 42”)
- from age 60 through age 69 . . . . . . 3.45 percent (often expressed as “1 in 29”)
( Reported by The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER))
And the risk is higher for poor women. According to a new report from the American Cancer Society finds that a slower and later decline in breast cancer death rates among women in poor areas has resulted in a shift in the highest breast cancer death rates from women residing in more affluent areas to those in poor areas. The authors point to screening rates as one potential factor. In 2008, only 51.4% of poor women ages 40 and older had undergone a screening mammogram in the past two years compared to 72.8% of non-poor women.
Tested at each age
20s: Routinely conduct a breast self-exam right after your period, and visit your ob-gyn for a yearly clinical exam.
30s: Do breast self-exams once a month and see your ob-gyn annually. If your mother or sister has had breast cancer, go in for a baseline mammogram at age 35.
40s: Stick with the monthly self-exams and the annual office visits. Get your first mammogram at age 40 and repeat every one to two years.
What you can do to reduce your risk from now?
1. Eating a healthy diet that is low in animal fat and high in whole grains and fruits and vegetables. There is no data indicating that a specific diet, per se, can help reduce breast cancer risk.
2. Taking a multivitamin and make sure it includes adequate folic acid.
3. Having your children before 35, if you have a choice.
4. Breastfeeding your children.
5. Avoiding unnecessary X-rays.
6. Drinking alcohol in moderation and make sure you take folic acid when you do drink.
7. Losing weight (if you are overweight).
8. Not gaining weight after menopause.
9. Getting regular exercise.
10. Using hormone therapy to treat menopausal symptoms for the shortest time period necessary, it at all.