The Ultimate Guide to Breast Health

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In New Zealand the statistics for breast cancer are shocking - one in nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.
Every year 2,300 women face this awful diagnosis and 650 will die annually.
Much of breast cancer awareness revolves around the early detection of the disease whereas there are many factors that can be adopted in daily life to reduce the risk in the first place.
Scientists have now uncovered many of the factors that we know cause cancer and looking at global incidence rates gives us a strong indication that diet, lifestyle and environment play a huge part in this disease and therefore in the prevention of this disease.
For example, women in rural China have a breast cancer risk 5 to 6 times lower than western women, and yet when they move to the west their incidence of breast cancer increases to that of their new country within 1 or 2 generations.
So what is happening in western nations that increases our risk so greatly? One of the big indications is oestrogen levels as the stimulation of oestrogen feeds seven out of ten types of breast cancers - a very substantial statistic.
Higher oestrogen levels result from obesity, lack of exercise, alcohol consumption, diets high in calories, meat, refined carbohydrates and sugars, low fibre diet and the use of antibiotics.
There are also other ways in which oestrogen levels elevate, our polluted world has over 100,000 synthetic chemicals, many of which are carcinogenic or work like oestrogen once they are taken into our bodies.
There are a number of things women of all ages can do to reduce their risk of breast cancer:
  • Maintain a healthy body weight
  • Exercise aerobically for 4 or more hours per week
  • Drink less than 5 glasses of alcohol per week
  • Boost vitamin D levels by having 10 mins of unprotected sun exposure daily
  • Eat 8+ servings of fresh fruit and vegetables daily - especially broccoli, cabbage, bok choy
  • Increase intake of phytoestrogens through beans, lentils, miso, tempeh, flax seeds, bean sprouts and wholegrains
  • Drink 4 or more cups of green tea daily
  • Increase intake of omega 3 and 9 fats through oily fish, nuts, seeds, avocado, flax and olive oils
Commonly, New Zealand women are having mammographic screening to detect breast abnormalities, however there is much controversy as to weather this type of screening actually saves lives, especially in pre-menopausal women who have denser breast tissue.
Thermographic breast screening has been approved by the American Food and Drug Administration since 1982 and several research trials involving over 300,000 women have been performed.
The difference in terms of detecting breast abnormalities means that thermographic screening detects increases in breast heat which can show pre-cancerous changes to the breast tissue up to ten years prior to a detectable lump.
Combined with mammograms, thermography increases the reliability to around 95% in women of all ages.
In addition, thermograms involve no breast contact, no painful compression or radiation and are safe for women of all ages.
For more information on reducing your risk of breast cancer please contact Wellington Naturopath and Medical Herbalist, Kimberly Taylor by emailing Kimberly@zestnaturalhealth.
co.
nz
today
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