by Dr. Christina Miller
October is breast cancer awareness month. For everyone who is a woman, has a sister, wife, daughter, mother, or female friend, this is for you.
Breast cancer is a common type of cancer in the United States. It occurs in 1 in 8 women or about 12% of US women. It may not have any symptoms or signs until it’s already spread, and the best treatment is always prevention.
I recently went in for my own mammogram, having a family history of breast cancer. Like many women, I felt anxiety while I waited for the results. When it came back as normal, I felt a wave of relief wash over me. This was followed by a warm wave of gratitude that I am plant-based and living a cancer-preventing lifestyle in general. It’s at these times, that I’m not thinking of the challenges of being plant-based, but instead, I am feeling the joy that I live and eat healthfully.
As plant-based eaters, we are significantly reducing our risk of chronic diseases, including cancer.
But do these dietary and lifestyle changes really matter for breast cancer? What about our genetic risk? While genes do play a role and are just one of the risk factors, they are not the only determinant. For example, identical twin studies, where one twin has breast cancer, reveal there is just a 20% chance of the other twin having breast cancer as well. (1) Just 20%. That means there’s an 80% chance of not getting breast cancer and that is dependent on the environment. So how we eat and live really does matter.
And in fact, studies indicate that if premenopausal women make dietary and lifestyle changes that include a diet shifted away from meat and dairy and toward a whole food, plant-based diet, prioritizing exercise, not smoking, and not drinking alcohol, they can reduce their risk of breast cancer by 50%. (2) And after menopause, it’s an 80% reduction. And I argue we can do even better than that if we emphasize phytonutrient-rich plant foods with attention to those foods specifically shown to reduce breast cancer risk.
This is huge. To me, breast cancer awareness month means being aware that we can take charge of our own health. Here are some steps we can take every day to reduce our chance of breast cancer:
- Eat a whole food, plant-based diet. Emphasis on whole foods and raw, fresh vegetables.
- Eat plenty of cruciferous veggies and leafy greens daily.
- Eat unprocessed soy.
- Eat flax seeds regularly.
- Eat mushrooms regularly.
- Avoid sugar and high-glycemic foods.
- Don’t eat fried foods.
- Avoid alcohol and tobacco.
- Ensure optimal vitamin D3.
- Get quality sleep – make it a priority, and make sure your room is dark.
- Exercise regularly, as if your life depends on it.
And for those who already have breast cancer, eating a cancer-kicking diet can help strengthen the immune system and improve treatment response.
So, for this month, let’s bring awareness to all the steps we can take every single day to prevent and improve our odds of ever getting breast cancer. We’re not just aware of it; we are taking charge of it. And next time we get testing or imaging, may we all be filled with gratitude for our health-promoting, plant-based diet and lifestyle.
Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer, “Familial Breast Cancer: Collaborative Reanalysis of Individual Data from 52 Epidemiological Studies Including 58,209 Women with Breast Cancer and 101,986 Women Without the Disease”. Lancet 358, no 9291 (2001).
L. M. Sanchez-Zamorano et al, “Healthy Lifestyle on the Risk of Breast Cancer”, Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Biomarkers 20, no. 5 (2011).