Problems on various types of diseases have long been affecting the populace of all countries. There are several factors that contributed to these problems. And these are: poor diet and nutrition; sedentary lifestyle; chronic stress; destructive habits; environmental pollution; internal pollution; and genetic expression. The first two reasons have been proven to be the highest factor affecting health.
With regards to poor diet and nutrition, government and university studies revealed that at least 95% of the population has at least one nutrient deficiency in their diet. Like for example in the US, most US citizen relies heavily on convenience or manufactured foods, which do not support good health. They do not eat nearly enough vegetables and fruits, and consume an extremely high amount of fat, animal products, and refined carbohydrates such as flour and sugar. These dietary habits cause the body to become both depleted of essential nutrients for proper function, and overloaded with unwanted toxic substances.
With this, a major concern to disseminate information regarding proper diet and nutrition has been raised. People then became greatly encouraged into eating organic foods, fresh fruits and vegetables, less fats and the likes. People then think that with healthy food intake, they will be less prone to diseases and other health risks.
Cancer, particularly breast cancer for women, is now known to be one of the major causes of deaths among women nowadays. Gearing towards diet and proper nutrition, people are asking whether or not diet and nutrition can help prevent and/or cure breast cancer.
Disappointing as it may seem, it should be noted that based on a number of researches, eating lots of fruits and vegetables is good for other reasons, but it doesn’t cut the risk of getting breast cancer. Diet doesn’t appear to have a strong impact on breast cancer except as it affects obesity, which increases breast cancer risk in women after menopause (Robson, 2004).
About two dozen studies have looked at whether eating fruits and vegetables in adulthood lowers the odds of getting breast cancer. Half found that it did, but the benefit was small, and for vegetables more than fruits. Other studies found that diets high in plant foods may cut the risk of developing colon, mouth, esophageal and lung cancers as well as heart disease and diabetes (Robson, 2004).
The new report combines results from eight previous studies and involved more than 350,000 women in North America and Europe, 7,377 of whom developed breast cancer during the course of the research. It is the largest study of its kind ever done on the subject. Daily consumption of fruits, vegetables and juices were analyzed individually and collectively at the outset and at intervals of up to 15 years later (Robson, 2004).
Women who ate the most of those foods had only a 3% to 9% lower breast cancer risk than those who ate the least of them – a statistically insignificant difference. There’s definitely a need to identify more modifiable risk factors for breast cancer. The two for which there is the most evidence are avoiding obesity after menopause and minimizing or avoiding alcohol consumption both of which lower risk (Kaplan, 2001).
It also may be that diet in younger years has an impact on the later development of breast cancer by affecting the age at which menstrual periods start or other hormonal factors. It cannot still be disclosed know what the effect is of diet at younger ages. Breast cancer is a much more hormonally dependent cancer than others and therefore may be less closely tied to diet (Kaplan, 2001).
Thus it can be concluded that although fruits and vegetables may offer protection against other types of cancer and heart disease, other types of interventions are needed to reduce the risk of breast cancer.
As it has been widely disseminated information that breast cancer is now the most commonly occurring cancer among women in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women, after lung cancer. About 192,200 new cases are expected this year, and the disease will cause an estimated 40,200 deaths. The only tips given by most researchers to lower the risk of getting it are (Kaplan, 2001):
- Maintaining a healthy weight, especially after menopause.
- Minimizing or avoid consuming alcohol.
- Avoiding smoking.
- Carefully weighing the risks and benefits of taking hormone pills.
- Getting regular mammograms and do monthly self-exams.
- Considering taking tamoxifen if you’ve already had breast cancer to prevent recurrence.
References
- Kaplan SS. Clinical utility of bilateral whole-breast US in the evaluation of women with dense breast tissue. Radiology. 2001; 221:641-649.
- Crane, Milton G. M.D. The Massive Problem of Degenerative Diseases. 2002.Get Healthy Get Smart.
- Crystal P, Strano SD, Shcharynski S, Koretz MJ. Using sonography to screen women with mammographically dense breasts. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2003;181:177-182.
- Robson M. Breast cancer surveillance in women with hereditary risk due to BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. Clin Breast Cancer. 2004; 5:260-268.
- Seven Key Factors that Determine Health or Illness. Connecticut Center for Health.