Changes You Can Make to Lower Your Risk

Making the following changes in your life will improve your overall health and also MAY SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE your risk for breast cancer.

Stop smoking . You should use every resource you can find to help you quit smoking—for good! Research shows that smoking causes many diseases , and it is associated with an increased risk of developing breast cancer. Smoking can also increase complications from breast cancer treatment. It can worsen radiation damage to the lung, cause difficulty healing after surgery, and increase risk of blood clots with hormonal therapy. But even knowing about all of the dangers isn't always enough to make you quit. Smoking is a habit that's very hard to break. Fortunately, if you're serious about trying, you have lots of help:

The American Lung Association offers a free online smoking cessation program. Local chapters of the American Cancer Society offer their Fresh Start program to help people quit smoking. You can also call their “quitline,” at 1-800-ACS-2345, to get support and free advice on how to stop smoking from trained counselors.

Medications to help you quit can be taken as a pill, chewed as gum, or worn as a patch on the skin.

Acupuncture and meditation can also help.

It's also easier if you have a friend or “buddy” who can either stop with you or cheer you on when you're feeling you can't make it on your own.

Get more exercise . Exercise has many healthy benefits. Research has shown that four hours of exercise a week may lower the risk of breast cancer . Over time, exercise may be able to lower the estrogen levels in your body. With less estrogen around, there is less stimulation of breast cell growth, which is associated with a lower risk of breast cancer. Other research on exercise and breast cancer has found that exercise also can help boost the immune system , limit weight gain from chemotherapy , and help ease treatment side effects .

Maintain a healthy weight . Overweight women have an increased risk of getting breast cancer after menopause. And being overweight can increase the risk of breast cancer coming back in women who have had the disease. There are probably several reasons that being overweight is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. Extra fat cells make extra estrogen that might stimulate breast cell growth. Plus, overweight women tend to exercise less and eat higher-fat foods. Regular exercise can reduce fat in the body and help with weight loss. As we age, it's harder to keep weight under control because our metabolism slows down and we tend to get less exercise. But if you can stick to a low-fat, low-calorie diet and stay physically active, weight is much easier to control.

Reduce your exposure to estrogen .

Prolonged exposure to estrogen without a break can increase your risk for breast cancer. To reduce or eliminate sources of extra estrogen from your diet and environment, try the following steps:

Shed any extra pounds, and try to keep those pounds off. Extra fat cells make extra estrogen. At a healthy weight, estrogen levels tend to be lower.

If you have already had breast cancer, avoid taking estrogen-like and progesterone-like products such as menopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone). So far the increased risk of breast cancer is most closely associated with the combination of estrogen and progesterone pills. Little is known about the relative safety of vaginal creams, gels, rings (such as Estring), “natural” hormones, and herbal hormone-like remedies. Your doctor may prescribe vaginal hormones to help with vaginal dryness and discomfort. Hormone preparations used in the vagina mostly stay in the vagina. But some of these hormones can be absorbed into your bloodstream and get to your breasts. Blood levels of estrogen depend on the dose, frequency of use, the type of estrogen preparation, and your body's ability to absorb the hormone. If you decide to use estrogen with your doctor's advice, try to use the lowest dose possible.

Limit alcohol use. You may choose to stop drinking alcohol completely. But if you enjoy alcoholic beverages and plan to continue using them, try to have fewer than five alcoholic drinks a week. Significant alcohol use is unhealthy for your liver, which helps regulate estrogen levels in your system. So limiting your alcohol use helps your liver keep blood estrogen levels low.

Restrict sources of red meat and other animal fats (including dairy fat in cheese, milk, and ice cream), because they may contain hormones, other growth factors, antibiotics, and pesticides. Some researchers believe that eating too much cholesterol and other fats are risk factors for cancer.

If circumstances allow, consider having children sooner rather than later in life. A full-term pregnancy, which stops your menstrual cycle for nine months, seems to offer protection against breast cancer. Pregnancy produces a blend of several hormones that forces breast cells to “grow up” and learn how to make milk. When breast cells mature and have a job to do, they have less time to act out and cause problems—like starting a cancer. Estrogen is in the mix of the hormonal blend, but the other hormones seem to balance out its effects.