date: 4/11/2007
Simple steps may reduce your risk of breast cancer
Doing routine household chores and eating a low-fat diet may help reduce the risk of breast cancer. ConsumerReportsHealth.org gives you the facts on several recent studies so you can consider some easy lifestyle changes that may reduce your own risk.
Subscribe to ConsumerReportsHealth.org to read our complete condition report on breast cancer and to compare your best treatment options.
Routine changes, such as doing household chores, cutting back on red meat, and consuming less fat, may reduce the risk of breast cancer.
Researchers in Europe and Canada studied more than 200,000 women ages 20 to 80. After six years, premenopausal women who spent some 20 to 30 hours a week cooking, cleaning, or doing other chores had 20 percent less breast-cancer risk than women who spent little time on housework. The risk reduction rose to 30 percent in those who did more than 30 hours of work. After menopause, the apparent risk reduction was 15 to 20 percent. Those findings, combined with previous research, suggest that regular, moderate physical activity may provide more breast-cancer protection than conventional workouts that are more intense but less frequent.
In a second study, researchers from Harvard University and elsewhere followed more than 90,000 women for 12 years. Those who ate more than five servings of red meat a week were 42 percent more likely to develop the most common kind of breast cancer than women who ate fewer than three servings.
Red meat is often loaded with fat--and eating less fat may reduce the risk of recurrent breast cancer, a study sponsored by the National Cancer Institute found. Researchers assigned two-fifths of some 2,400 breast-cancer patients to a low-fat diet and asked the rest to continue their regular diet. After five years the risk of recurrence was 24 percent lower in the low-fat group. While that anticancer payoff is less certain for lower-risk women, those with a personal or family history of breast cancer should consider trying to reduce fat intake, perhaps as low as 15 percent of total calories.
Researchers in Europe and Canada studied more than 200,000 women ages 20 to 80. After six years, premenopausal women who spent some 20 to 30 hours a week cooking, cleaning, or doing other chores had 20 percent less breast-cancer risk than women who spent little time on housework. The risk reduction rose to 30 percent in those who did more than 30 hours of work. After menopause, the apparent risk reduction was 15 to 20 percent. Those findings, combined with previous research, suggest that regular, moderate physical activity may provide more breast-cancer protection than conventional workouts that are more intense but less frequent.
In a second study, researchers from Harvard University and elsewhere followed more than 90,000 women for 12 years. Those who ate more than five servings of red meat a week were 42 percent more likely to develop the most common kind of breast cancer than women who ate fewer than three servings.
Red meat is often loaded with fat--and eating less fat may reduce the risk of recurrent breast cancer, a study sponsored by the National Cancer Institute found. Researchers assigned two-fifths of some 2,400 breast-cancer patients to a low-fat diet and asked the rest to continue their regular diet. After five years the risk of recurrence was 24 percent lower in the low-fat group. While that anticancer payoff is less certain for lower-risk women, those with a personal or family history of breast cancer should consider trying to reduce fat intake, perhaps as low as 15 percent of total calories.
This article first appeared in the April 2007 issue of Consumer Reports on Health.
This site is for your information only. For medical advice, consult a health professional.
