Breast cancer prevention

We have always heard that prevention is the basis for maintaining good health, however every time we are seeing how genetics inevitably mark our destiny and that is why it is increasingly important to maintain habits that do not add more risk factors of which we already have printed in our DNA.

One in eight of us will suffer a breast cancer, but we must know that it is one of the cancers with the longest survival, both because of the early diagnosis that the tests carried out allow us and because of the treatments we have to fight this disease.

Primary prevention involves following a series of habits that allow us to reduce risk. It is true that in other cancers a series of clear factors are established, however in breast cancer, if one dives into the bibliographic search, one finds many articles on the matter, but its scientific evidence regarding recurrence and mortality is low. sense, doctors and researchers have an arduous task.

We are going to try to clarify which factors are the most related to breast cancer.

Consumption of red and processed meat It seems that it has a carcinogenic effect and is related to all types of cancers, especially colorectal, but the breast is no exception. In the elaboration of the meat processing, different chemicals are formed that are carcinogenic. Does this mean that I can’t eat meat? No, a balanced diet is necessary and this type of food also provides us with many micronutrients and proteins but we must ration their intake and eat them in small quantities and only twice a week. Something similar happens with the consumption of sugars, especially refined ones, they should be avoided and only consumed occasionally.

Therefore, as a summary we can say that a balanced diet where the consumption of meat is limited to twice a week and at the expense of white meat, a increased consumption of fish, vegetables, fruits and legumes, let’s go our great MEDITERRANEAN DIET, it will provide us with all the necessary nutrients and we will reduce the possibility of suffering from breast cancer.

In addition, if we follow this diet we will decrease the possibility of being obese, and obesity is directly related to cancer, and as we have seen in these times obesity is the great pandemic of the 21st century.

The practice of physical exercise It should be a general rule, it is not necessary to go to a gym, it is enough to walk one hour a day. It is also important to know that the survival of breast cancer has increased as we have said previously due to the screening tests carried out, and in this sense we must know when we have to start carrying them out.

Keep in mind that a woman with family background of breast cancer than one who does not have them and you also have to know what type of family history since the incidence is so high today it is rare not to have a relative who has not suffered from breast cancer.

That is why we divide the patients into three large groups, those who have no family history, those who have a family member but not with a high genetic load and those who have relatives, especially sisters and mothers with breast cancer and also at an early age .

The former must undergo the screening tests that each autonomous community marks, in Madrid from the age of 50 and biannual. However, the other groups should be individualized to know how often the tests are performed and even in those patients with a high genetic load they should be evaluated and in some cases genetic tests that allow diagnosing mutations should be performed.

The breast self-examination especially in patients with a family history of breast cancer it is very important, it must always be done after the end of the rule because it is where the breast is at rest and it is easier.

In conclusion I want to reflect, many times I hear from the people around me that things happen because they have to happen and when someone suffers from cancer we hear the typical phrase of “he took care of himself, he did not smoke, he played sports and look what happened to him. past, ”and sometimes this serves as an excuse for not quitting smoking, not doing sports or eating everything we like, but if we are a little aware we know that there are things that are clearly related to different diseases and although genetics we cannot changing it, whatever is in our power, yes, in addition, having healthy habits makes us have a better quality of life, and that is what we live it, we live it well.

Dr. Hortensia García Briz is a gynecologist at the Clínica Anthea from Madrid.

1. Ferlay, J .; Hery, C .; Autier, P .; Sankaranarayanan, R. Global Burden of Breast Cancer. In Breast Cancer Epidemiology; Springer: New York, NY, USA, 2010; pp. 1–19.

2. Seward, B.W.; Wild, C.P. International Agency for Research on Cancer. World Cancer Report 2014; Lyon International Agency for Research on Cancer: Lyon, France, 2014; pp. 16–69.

3. Risk Factors and Preventions of Breast Cancer Yi-Sheng Sun 1, Zhao Zhao 2, Zhang-Nv Yang 1, Fang Xu 1, Hang-Jing Lu 1, Zhi-Yong Zhu 1, Wen Shi 1, Jianmin Jiang 1, Ping -Ping Yao 1, Han-Ping Zhu 1

4. Nutrition and Breast Cancer: A Literature Review on Prevention, Treatment and Recurrence 1222

Paola De Cicco, Maria Valeria Catani, Valeria Gasperi, Matteo Sibilano, Maria Quaglietta 2 and Isabella Savini 2, *

– .