what if there isn't a cure?
One of the things I admire most about women is the way you rush to support a friend (or a stranger, even) in distress. Take breast cancer. I’m moved when I see a picture of a woman who has lost her hair to chemotherapy surrounded by friends who have shaved their heads in support. I think you would do anything for your sisters. You walk, run, and ride bikes in the race for the cure.
But what if there isn’t a cure?
The portrait above was taken in the heroic style popular after World War II. It’s a most American picture. You see a young couple holding their children, framed against the sky in a way that makes them seem a little bigger than life, bravely striding into a promising future. The Quonset hut (a low-cost portable building left over from the war) is their home. Who are they? I remember them as Uncle Glen and Aunt Adele; they’ve been gone a long time.
Glen was a war hero in my mind, a Marine who fought in the terrible WWII battle for Okinawa. Adele was an unusually intelligent woman; her home was always extra nice. She likely planted and cared for the sweet peas in the corner of the picture. The children are my cousins Linda and Vicki; later there was a son, Rick.
And the future they were striding into? It was brief—each died in their early thirties. Glen in an accident; Adele of breast cancer, an unusual case, given her youth. Perhaps the sudden loss of her husband was a factor. As a young boy I was a spectator to the tragedy of their deaths. Their orphaned children, Linda, Vicki and Rick, were taken into our home, so I was also witness to how hard it is for young children to lose their parents.
This childhood memory is my only qualification to write about breast cancer; maybe it’s enough. So I repeat the question, “What if there isn’t a cure?” In a caring way, I sometimes ask women, “What should you do to prevent breast cancer?” The most frequent response is to get regular mammograms. Then I point out that a mammogram is for when you already have cancer and repeat the question. Most women are unsure; a few know a preventative measure or two. But that’s about it.
So in memory of my Aunt Adele, and with the hope of not adding to the burden of the breast cancer survivors in our audience, I offer ten steps to reduce a woman’s risk to breast cancer. This is not my work; it is based on a 2007 meta-study done by experts working for the American Institute for Cancer Research. I have added guidance from work by other scientists. With time this list should get better, but it’s the best I could find. (If you've been following our weekly Healthy Changes since January, you'll see that you are already doing many of these steps.)
1. Avoid alcohol. If you choose to drink, limit alcohol to one drink per day. (It’s presumed you are avoiding tobacco.)
2. Stay lean. As lean as possible within the healthy weight range. (Elevated body fat is a risk factor after the teen years.)
3. Be physically active. Every day, for at least 30 minutes.
4. Have children early (in your adult years) and as often as you choose. Breast-feed infants at least six months.
5. Limit sugar to the AHA daily guideline of 6 tsp. for women and 9 for men. Avoid sugary drinks and limit consumption of candy as well as sugary breakfast cereals and bread products. Less is better.
6. Limit intake of red meats and dairy; avoid all processed meats.
7. Eat a varied diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. (These foods are an excellent source of protective antioxidants including vitamins A and C.)
8. Eat food, not pills (unless prescribed by your doctor). Avoid the use of multivitamin pills, or supplements to reduce cancer risk. (See AJCN March 24, 2010, “Multivitamin use and breast cancer incidence in a prospective cohort of Swedish women”.) Hormone replacement therapy is also a risk factor for breast cancer.
9. Maintain a healthy level of vitamin D with moderate sunshine where possible.
10. Eat healthy fats. Avoid all trans fats (noted by the word hydrogenated in the ingredient list). Eat natural fats like olive oil and butter in moderation and minimize vegetable oil products. (Limiting food with vegetable oils like chips, will improve the important ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats as well as reduce salt intake.)
The AICR recommends that cancer survivors—after receiving treatment—also follow their preventative steps. Readers are invited to share their experience or any other guidance on how to prevent breast cancer.
Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 10:15AM | by Skip Hellewell | 28 Comments | Share Article | in breast cancer, cancer, prevention | Email Article
Reader Comments (28)
Danae, good to hear from you again. A century ago the discovery of vitamin helped doctors treat the deficiency diseases; this was an exciting time for nutritionists. Synthetic forms of the vitamins were soon developed and an idea was introduced that should have been questioned more carefully: Giving people vitamins in pill form was as good as getting them in natural foods.
See the N.Y. Times article by Tara Parker-Pope from Nov. 20, 2008 titled, "News Keeps Getting Worse for Vitamins". If a doctor prescribed a vitamin to me for an acute need I would simply take the pills. If he prescribed them for long-term use, I would want to have a careful conversation with him. I should add that I have the greatest respect for doctors, especially the hard-working GPs.
But doctors routinely recommend vitamin D to older women to prevent conditions like osteoporosis without testing them to see what their actual serum vitamin D level is, or discussing the usefulness of moderate sunshine. Perhaps some doctor could comment on this practice?
Danae, I woke up this morning thinking of your hope, for your daughters, that a cure for breast cancer can be found. (My post raised the issue that there might not be a cure.) This is my waking thought: The cure I dream of is the optimization of the body's ability to control cancerous cells--enabled by a healthy diet and lifestyle. I have more faith in a healthy body's ability to self-cure that I do in most chemo-radiation-surgery treatments. (Recognizing there are a small number of cancers with effective chemo drugs.)
The book "AntiCancer, A New Way of Life" is written by a doctor/scientist who is a cancer survivor and, after taking the recommended treatment, determined he would then live the most healthy possible life so as to give his body the best chance of surviving the cancer. This sounds like what you are doing, and what the AICR recommends. The book opens, "Cancer lies dormant in all of us" and goes on to discuss what he calls the "anticancer lifestyle", which is really what we seek to share in wordofwisdomliving.com. Best to you.
Hi!
My husband gets asked this question of how to prevent cancer all the time, as he is a resident physician in radiation oncology. From his few years in the field, his answer has always been "Don't smoke." While we assume that no one smokes anymore, he sees cancer patients who smoke every day. The other items listed on your post are also good measures, but the avoidance of tobacco can't be emphasized enough.
(Not related,but my husband served with your son, Matt, in France.)
Thank you for your poignant post and your informative list of effective preventative actions. It was my understanding that studies suggest that the longer a woman breastfeeds, the more her chances of breast cancer are reduced. If this is the case, I would have loved for you to have encouraged women to breastfeed for as long as possible, rather than "at least six months." I appreciate your thoughtful, enlightening blog.
Hi Skip. I love the blog and this is a great post, but I'm a little confused about number 1. I assumed you were talking to potential non-LDS readers when saying limit alcohol, but then with the added assumption that we are all already refraining from tobacco, I was back to thinking you were speaking to members. Did I miss something? Is drinking a glass of wine every now and then not considered against the WOW anymore? Just looking for clarification. Keep up the great work!
Hello Adrienne. The blog is meant for everyone who has an interest in better nutrition. In that group the use of tobacco is unlikely but social drinking is a possibility. Thus #1 presumes no tobacco and begins with a bold face, "Avoid alcohol", which I think you well know is the LDS practice. The language actually comes from the AICR, as noted. You may have noticed there is no AICR position taken on coffee or tea, which are also not used by observant LDS.
Here is another view: In the U.S. annual deaths from tobacco run about 400K per year, a terrible toll. Deaths attributed to alcohol run about 90K per year but it's not clear there is a mortality penalty for social drinkers. There are no death statistics for coffee and tea, and the AICR did not find a link to breast cancer.
This is blog is about nutrition. Though the LDS are wonderfully observant of the prohibitions found in the W of W, as a group their nutritional practices differ little from the world around them. President Hinckley once encouraged better nutrition consistent with the W of W, thinking it a shame that we had the guidance before the rest of the world but were not leaders in nutrition practice. That is the opportunity this blog addresses. Best to you.
Hello,
I hope all is well. Healthline just published these inspiring quotes about breast cancer from celebrities who battled the disease. Our audience really enjoyed them and gave us great feedback on how powerful and inspirational they are. You can see them here: http://www.healthline.com/health/breast-cancer/quotes
I thought they would be of interest to your followers as well, and I wanted to see if you would include it as a resource on your page: http://wordofwisdomliving.squarespace.com/home/what-if-there-isnt-a-cure.html?currentPage=2
Please let me know if this would be possible. I’m happy to answer any other questions as well.
Thanks so much!
Maggie Danhakl • Assistant Marketing Manager
p: 415-281-3124 f: 415-281-3199
Healthline • The Power of Intelligent Health
660 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
www.healthline.com | @Healthline | @HealthlineCorp
About Us: corp.healthline.com
Hello,
I hope all is well. Healthline just published these inspiring quotes about breast cancer from celebrities who battled the disease. Our audience really enjoyed them and gave us great feedback on how powerful and inspirational they are. You can see them here: http://www.healthline.com/health/breast-cancer/quotes
I thought they would be of interest to your followers as well, and I wanted to see if you would include it as a resource on your page: http://wordofwisdomliving.squarespace.com/home/what-if-there-isnt-a-cure.html?currentPage=2
Please let me know if this would be possible. I’m happy to answer any other questions as well.
Thanks so much!
Maggie Danhakl • Assistant Marketing Manager
p: 415-281-3124 f: 415-281-3199
Healthline • The Power of Intelligent Health
660 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
www.healthline.com | @Healthline | @HealthlineCorp
About Us: corp.healthline.com