What You Might Not Know About Breast Cancer

“If you live long enough, sooner or later everybody you know has cancer.”  George Carlin

 In the hope of erasing that notion, here is some useful information about the possible risk factors for breast cancer, some of which you’ve probably never considered! 

Antiperspirants and Breast Cancer

British scientists from the Birchall Centre for Inorganic Chemistry and Materials at Keele University measured the aluminum content of breast tissue from 17 breast cancer patients.  They found that aluminum content of breast tissue and breast tissue fat was significantly higher in the outer breast area, near where one would expect to find the greatest density of antiperspirant. 

Antiperspirants are mostly comprised of aluminum salts which are known carcinogens.  Breast cancer is widely believed to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors although no one is sure what those environmental factors may be.

Recent research has re-visited the debate on the breast cancer-antiperspirant link.  There is an unaccountable higher incidence of tumors in the upper outer quadrant of the breast.  The British study found no direct evidence that the aluminum measured in the breast biopsies originated from antiperspirant.  An alternate explanation for increased aluminum deposits might be that tumorous tissue acts as a “sink” for systemic aluminum. 

The FDA, American Cancer Society, and the National Cancer Institute all report that no studies have conclusively shown a link between antiperspirant usage and breast cancer.  Certainly the above study is not large enough to provide a link, but it’s worth your while to do your own research and decide for yourself! 

Alcohol consumption and breast cancer

This is a topic about which there is little debate.  Alcohol consumption increases your risk of getting breast cancer.  How much?  According to a study by Dr. Arthur Klatsky, adjunct investigator in the Division of Research at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, women who drank between one and two alcoholic drinks per day increased their risk of breast cancer by 10% compared to light drinkers who drank less than one drink a day.  For women who drank more than three drinks a day, the risk of breast cancer jumped to 30%, similar to the risk from smoking a pack or more of cigarettes per day!  This proved true across age and ethnicity strata.

Perhaps the most significant finding from Dr. Klatsky’s study is that it doesn’t matter what type of liquor a woman consumes.  It is the alcohol itself and the quantity consumed that will trigger the onset of breast cancer.  Thus wine, beer and spirits are equal when it comes to the risk of disease. 

Stress and Breast Cancer

Recurrence of cancer for women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer is twice as likely for those who have led a stressful life, according to a small, retrospective study conducted by Oxana Palesh, PhD, at the University of Rochester Medical Center. 

Dr. Palesh’s study showed that women who faced physical or sexual abuse or life-threatening situations see metastatic tumors return after about 2 ½ years while women leading more peaceful lives see recurrence at about five years. 

Studies have shown that physical and emotional stress can alter the immune system’s function and that the activity of natural killer cells is related to breast cancer progression.  What’s not clear is linking stress with the development of breast cancer though it’s been widely studied. 

In the University of Rochester study, Dr. Palesh analyzed cortisol levels, a substance produced by the body during stressful periods and possibly an inhibitor of the body’s immune response.  Elevated cortisol levels may make the body more susceptible to the recurrence of cancer. 

According to Dr. Palesh, “when there is a consistent, long-term stress in the body, the elevated cortisol level can change the body’s normal rhythms and potentially reduce resistance to tumor growth.” 

Light and Breast Cancer

Cancer researcher, Richard G. Stevens, at the University of Connecticut Health Center, theorizes that the increase in breast cancer in the industrialized world is linked to the disruption of hormone cycles, triggered by melatonin levels. 

Light suppresses production of melatonin, a hormone which helps regulate sleep.  It also allows levels of estrogen to rise and when a woman is exposed to light too long, it confuses her circadian clock, the 24-hour internal rhythm that keeps hormones and the body on their daily schedule.  Thus Stevens hypothesizes, some cancers may get their start when the body is exposed to too many hours of artificial light and not enough sleep because “cell don’t know when not to divide.” 

His theory is based on two studies.  One was a 1991 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report showing that blind women are about half as likely as sighted women to get breast cancer.  In an October 2005 study in which Stevens was an author, researchers analyzed the sleep patterns of more than 12,000 women.  While risk for breast cancer was not significantly higher for short sleepers, risk estimates for long sleepers was consistently lower.  The message for women is to get plenty of sleep (and more for athletic women) and invest in dark curtains.