The recommendations by the public health agencies should therefore be updated. Namely, according to the American Cancer Society, from the age of 40 onwards, average-risk females should do annual mammograms, whereas the US Preventive Services Task Force advises annual mammograms after the age of 50.
As a consequence, women remain puzzled whether mammography is harmful or not. This year, the Swiss Medical Board made a clear recommendation that systematic mammography should not be done. For a period of 12 months, they examined available data from evidence, but couldn’t find that mammograms were safe or that they were life-saving.
Mammography was able to prevent one death in every thousand woman screened while causing harm in the rest nine hundred and ninety nine. So, the researchers emphasized the importance of avoiding mammograms and the need for changes in the existing programs. This report was published back in 2014.
However, a lot of women still think that skipping their annual mammogram is irresponsible since they’re not informed about the lack of scientific studies that support the benefits of mammograms. Also, a lot of doctors who are a part of the cancer industry and care only about their profits, not about the health of the patients, refute such findings.
If you also have doubts on whether to go to your annual mammography or not, think of these facts:
Mammograms have even fewer benefits than you think-according to a survey, women thought that this screening reduced the risk of breast cancer death by at least half and that it prevented more than 80 deaths per 1000 women screened. Nevertheless, at best, mammography can reduce the risk for 20% and prevent only one breast-cancer death per 10,000 women.
Mammograms increase the risk of breast cancer in women with a BRCA ½ mutation- According to the BMJ, in case of a specific gene mutation known as BRCA ½, women are prone to cancer due to radiation. Women younger than 30 who had this mutation and who were exposed to a mammogram had two times the risk of breast cancer when compared to the women who didn’t have the mutated gene.
Common false positives– unfortunately, the risk of a false positive test over 10 mammograms in the U.S. is 58% to 77%! Such diagnosis leads to stress, anxiety, distress and unnecessary tests, biopsies, and surgeries.
Mammograms are ineffective in women with dense breasts-often times, in women with denser breast tissue; mammography has problems in deciphering what’s what. The law for breast density has been passed in California, New York, Texas, and Connecticut and radiologists are obliged to inform patients who have this type of tissue that the chance of the screening showing nothing is very high.
Waist circumference is associated with the risk of breast cancer- all women should know that mammography is not prevention. If you want to reduce the risk of this disease, focus on prevention by maintaining a healthy body weight, that is, a healthy waist circumference.
A research done with 93,000 overweight post-menopausal women showed that although their overall health and cancer status were measured by the researchers, their waist circumference was strongly associated with risk of breast cancer. More precisely, a lot of breast cancers are fueled by estrogen, a hormone produced in the fat tissue.
So, the more body fat in the body, the higher the release of estrogen. If a woman has more belly fat than hip fat, the risk of chronic conditions is much higher.
How to prevent the risk of breast cancer properly:
Don’t consume processed foods and sugar, due to the presence of refined fructose which is highly dangerous.
Consume more vitamin D because this vitamin encourages apoptosis, i.e. programmed cell death of the affected cells. If you have cancer, your vitamin D levels need to be between 70 and 100 ng/ml. You can get it through exposure to sunlight, indoor tanning, or through supplements.
Lower the intake of protein; it should be between 40 and 70 grams of protein per day or 2/3 to half of the current portion. If you are pregnant or if you work out regularly, consume 25% more.
Exclude unfermented soy products- this type of soy has plant estrogens, phytoestrogens, and isoflavones. According to studies, soy combines with human estrogen and increases breast cell proliferation and increases the risk of mutations.
Better the sensitivity of the insulin and leptin receptor- avoid eating sugar ad grains and remember to limit the intake of carbohydrates and eat more fiber from veggies.
Work out- workout lowers the risk of cancer by regulating the insulin levels and it also stimulates apoptosis. Reduction in body fat lowers the number of tumors and the estrogen levels and this is how it prevents breast cancer.
Healthy weight- when you lose surplus body fat, you lower the risk of breast cancer since fat is known to produce estrogen.
Avoid synthetic hormone replacement therapy- according to a study published in the journal of the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer rates were lowered when the hormone replacement therapy was decreased.
Add turmeric to your diet-curcumin, the active ingredient of turmeric has been found to prevent breast cancer metastasis. Since it’s not easily absorbed by the body, combine it with other ingredients like black pepper.
Avoid charred meat because it has been linked with an increased risk of breast cancer because the process of baking, roasting, etc. of starchy foods leads to the creation of a carcinogen known as acrylamide.
Increase the intake of iodine since iodine has been found to possess anti-cancer properties and it leads to death of cancer cells in breast cancer and thyroid gland cancer.
Consume high-quality omega-3 fats like krill oil- it has been found that one of the causing factors of cancer is omega-3 deficiency.