Take these preventative steps to lower your breast cancer risk
I'm often asked if there are preventive steps people can take to cut their breast cancer risk. And the answer is yes! For starters, avoid hormone-replacement therapy and get mammograms and other screenings as recommended by your doctor. But you can also protect yourself with lifestyle changes — maintaining a healthy diet and body weight, getting exercise, and drinking alcohol in moderation or not at all. According to the latest statistics, one in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 250,000 American women will be diagnosed with an invasive breast cancer this year, as will about 2,400 men. While the mortality associated with breast cancer has decreased, the disease still claims more than 40,000 lives a year in the United States. Breast cancer is characterized by a solid tumor that originates in the tissue of the breast as the result of DNA mutations. And we are increasingly realizing that breast cancer is not just one disease — there are multiple subtypes, which have different causes and require different treatments. A host of factors contribute to your risk of breast cancer. While some DNA mutations can be inherited at birth, the majority are acquired later in life. That's why age is the No. 1 risk factor for breast cancer. The longer you live, the more opportunity there is for the DNA of your breast tissue to develop a mutation. The most common age of diagnosis is 65. We've also discovered that breast cancer risk is tied to certain other health factors: Being obese or overweight, living a sedentary lifestyle, not having given birth to children, and taking hormone-replacement therapy are all risk factors for breast cancer, as is excessive alcohol intake.
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