Good news for women who struggle trying to find time to exercise.  Even moderate workouts show a decrease in the risk of breast cancer.  These findings were recently released in the September 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

For many women, an hour of exercise can seem impossible to squeeze in every day, but this study shows every little bit counts.  Moderate physical activity, such as 30 minutes of walking three times a week offers substantial protection against the risk of breast cancer.

“This gives women some measure of control over her personal risk profile for breast cancer,” says Scott Bergstedt, MD, ob/gyn with OBG-1.  Even better, all women involved in the study showed the benefits, including those with a high risk of breast cancer – women who have never had children and had a family history, he explained. 

Dr. Bergstedt offers a caution, however.  “The women who participated in this study might well have been women who generally took better care of themselves overall. But it should inspire women to exercise, because it does matter.”

He urges women to not abandon other important self-care measures such as regular mammograms, monthly self-breast exams, reduced consumption of alcohol and fat and no cigarettes. 

Researchers aren’t sure how or why exercise exerts its protective effects against breast cancer.  Some experts believe that a reduction in body fat is the key.  Studies have shown that excess fat cells help convert hormones into excess estrogen, long suspected to have links to breast cancer.  Exercise reduces the amount of estrogen circulating in the blood. 

“Another interesting point is that exercise can also help keep insulin levels low, which also helps reduce body fat,” says Dr. Bergstedt.

Breast Cancer Myths Busted

§     If breast cancer doesn’t run in your family, you don’t have anything to worry about.
Family history is a significant risk factor for breast cancer — having a first-degree relative, such as a mother, sister or daughter, with breast cancer can double a woman’s risk of developing the disease. However, women without a family history of the disease are far from free and clear.
Only about 10 percent to 20 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer actually have a family history of this disease.

§     If you lead a healthy lifestyle (exercising, eating a low-fat diet and avoiding alcohol), you can prevent breast cancer.
 While a healthy lifestyle may improve your odds of avoiding a variety of ailments, it is not a guarantee of breast health. “Certainly, not smoking and eating a high-fiber, low-fat diet will impact your health in lots of different ways,” he said. “A woman’s best bet is to try to catch breast cancer early before it spreads with routine mammograms as well as self-exams and clinical examinations by her doctor.”

§     Women should avoid mammograms because they cause cancer.
Some experts say that mammograms may slightly increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer, but strongly disagree with the implication that women should forgo mammography because of this risk. Most say that the known benefits of mammograms far outweigh the very small potential risk of them causing cancer.  “Today’s mammograms give a lot less radiation than ones 20 years ago did,” Dr. Bergstedt said. He thinks this is one of the most dangerous breast cancer myths. “It scares me that people say multiple mammograms can cause breast cancer because right now that is the only tool that we really have to diagnose it early in the stages when it’s completely treatable rather than having women come in with a significant lump at a point where breast cancer has already spread,” he said.

For more information on the risk of breast cancer, visit www.obg-1.com or call OBG-1 at 312-1000.