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" Myths and misinformation are rampant when it comes to risk factors and causes of breast cancer. Here&amp;#039;s what you need to be concerned about and what you don&amp;#039;t. Is it true that... Wearing antiperspirants and underwire bras can lead to breast cancer? No. Several studies have found no link between these things and breast cancer risk, Dr. Seewaldt says. One theory was that using antiperspirants or wearing certain types of bras would impede lymphatic flow through the breast, causing cancer-causing toxins to build up, but that&amp;#039;s just not true, explains Virginia Kaklamani, M.D., assistant professor of oncology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. You&amp;#039;re destined to get the disease if you have a family history of it? No. &amp;quot;Most people who have a mother who developed breast cancer after menopause only have a modest increase in risk compared to the general population,&amp;quot; says Claudine Isaacs, M.D., clinical director of the breast cancer program at the Georgetown University Medical Center. Plus, there&amp;#039;s a difference between having a family history of the disease and having a genetic predisposition. If a close relative is diagnosed with the disease (including on your father&amp;#039;s side), you have a family history. Carrying a mutation in one of the so-called breast cancer genes BRCA I or II indicates a genetic predisposition, which raises your lifetime risk of developing the disease 40 to 80 percent, Dr. Isaacs explains. That may sound high, but it still doesn&amp;#039;t mean you will definitely get breast cancer, Dr. Isaacs says. &amp;quot;There are many lifestyle factors that come into play, including whether you exercise and are at a healthy weight, that can mitigate your risk,&amp;quot; she explains. Plus, if you have a BRCA I or II mutation, you can take measures to lower your odds. For example, removing the ovaries before menopause reduces breast cancer risk by 50 percent. That&amp;#039;s why it&amp;#039;s important to discuss your family history\u2014and your options\u2014with your doctor. Having more than one drink daily increases your risk? Yes. Women who have two to five drinks daily increase their breast cancer risk 50 percent compared to those who abstain from alcohol, according to the American Cancer Society. The theory is that the way alcohol is metabolized leads to higher estrogen levels in the bloodstream, which ups your odds of developing the disease. &amp;quot;Women should have less than a drink a day,&amp;quot; Dr. Seewaldt says. One drink is a 10-oz beer, a 4-oz glass of wine or one shot of hard liquor. Being overweight is a risk factor? Yes. &amp;quot;Overweight or obese women do have an increased risk for developing breast cancer in their postmenopausal years,&amp;quot; says Anne McTiernan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the prevention center at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. &amp;quot;We think it&amp;#039;s because these women have high levels of estrogens, testosterone and inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein and insulin\u2014all of which can cause breast cells to grow excessively.&amp;quot; Taking the pill can cause breast cancer? It doesn&amp;#039;t appear to, experts say. However, taking hormone therapy (HT)\u2014combined estrogen and progesterone\u2014for five years or longer is associated with a 50 percent higher risk, Dr. Kaklamani notes. &amp;quot;The increased risk may be because women who take HT are subjected to a longer period of high estrogens, which could stimulate the growth of a preexisting cancer. But that doesn&amp;#039;t mean you should scrap HT altogether. &amp;quot;Life is a matter of balancing risks,&amp;quot; Dr. Seewaldt says. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m willing to give hormone therapy for really bad hot flashes or sleep problems.&amp;quot; Experts generally recommend taking the lowest effective dose for the shortest amount of time possible. Eating soy foods raises your risk? On the contrary, it may be somewhat protective, although the soy story is complicated, says Dr. Kaklamani. &amp;quot;Japanese women have a much lower breast cancer risk when they move to the States. It takes one generation for breast cancer risk to become the same [as Americans].&amp;quot; Experts suspect that soy may protect against breast cancer because it acts like an estrogen and may prevent the body&amp;#039;s own estrogen from building up in breast cells and causing cancer. While moderate consumption of soy foods may be beneficial, experts caution against taking supplements because these can actually stimulate cancer growth in those who have the disease but don&amp;#039;t know it. Having your first baby after age 30 raises your risk? Yes. &amp;quot;Some experts believe that going so long without an interruption in your menstrual cycle can result in an excess of hormones,&amp;quot; says Dr. McTiernan. But breastfeeding may help mitigate the risk. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that women who breastfed for 13 to 24 months had a 30 percent decreased risk of breast cancer; if they kept it up longer than 24 months, their risk went down 40 percent. This may occur because reproductive hormone levels are lower when you&amp;#039;re breastfeeding. What&amp;#039;s new in treatment The biggest change in breast cancer treatment is how doctors are using the many therapies\u2014surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and medication\u2014for different patients. &amp;quot;Doctors have embraced the idea that every woman gets a different type of breast cancer and needs a moderately different treatment approach,&amp;quot; explains Eric Winer, M.D., director of the breast oncology center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Armed with a more advanced understanding of what causes various types of breast cancer to grow, doctors are now able to target the disease more effectively with treatment. So for example, if a woman has a type of breast cancer that&amp;#039;s fueled by a protein called HER-2, in addition to surgery or chemotherapy, she&amp;#039;ll take either Herceptin or Tykerb, drugs which stop HER-2 from making breast cancer cells multiply. The #1 habit that lowers your risk: Exercise &amp;quot;We think that physical activity reduces your risk by lowering levels of estrogen and other hormones, in large part by reducing body fat,&amp;quot; says Dr. McTiernan. You don&amp;#039;t have to sweat it out for hours on end to reap the benefit: A landmark study involving more than 74,000 women found that those who walked briskly for an hour and a half to two and a half hours weekly cut their risk of breast cancer by 18 percent. Staying active can also help you maintain a healthy weight, which lowers your risk of the disease. One study found that women who gained 21-30 pounds after age 18 had a 40 percent higher risk, compared with women who kept their weight within 5 pounds. If you do see the number on the scale creep up, bringing it down can be protective: Data from the ongoing Nurses&amp;#039; Health study found that women who shed 22 pounds after menopause reduced their risk by 57 percent. Bridging the knowledge gap Since the advent of the pink ribbon, health experts have been working hard to educate women about breast cancer. While we&amp;#039;ve come a long way, continuing to spread the right information is crucial. Most of you know the basics, but there are still some misconceptions, according to a survey conducted by the National Women&amp;#039;s Health Resource Center and WomansDay.com. The great news is that most of you who took the survey\u2014over 70 percent\u2014knew that women 40 and older should get a mammogram annually, and over 90 percent of you in that age group have done just that. You also overwhelmingly knew that having a family history of breast cancer raises your risk for it. The not-so-great news: 47 percent of you didn&amp;#039;t know that age is a major risk factor, when in fact it&amp;#039;s the most important one, second to being a woman. (As you get older, your risk for the disease increases. For example, at age 40, the average risk is 1 in 68; at 60, it&amp;#039;s 1 in 26.) You also underestimated the importance of maintaining a healthy weight; only 32 percent believed that being overweight increases the chances that you&amp;#039;ll develop the disease, whereas experts cite obesity as another major risk factor. And there are a lot more treatment options than you think: Over one-third of you thought that mastectomy was most common, when lumpectomy might also be an option in some cases. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/womens-health/advice/a22/what-really-affects-your-cancer-risk/>