October marks National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, making it the perfect time to focus on being proactive about your breasts’ health. At Southwest Florida Women’s Group in Naples, Florida, our team of eight dedicated female providers believes education is your best defense against disease. Understanding your risks and scheduling your routine breast cancer screenings are powerful steps for your long-term wellness.
Here’s what every woman should know about breast cancer risks, screening advancements, and common misconceptions about the disease.
Any level of alcohol consumption increases your relative risk of developing breast cancer. Simply put, the more you drink, the higher your risk. According to the World Health Organization, about one-third of new cases in Europe are linked to drinking the equivalent of up to two small glasses of wine daily.
When you consume alcohol, your body breaks it down into acetaldehyde, a toxic compound that can damage cellular DNA. Additionally, alcohol raises estrogen levels in the body, which can trigger the growth of hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer. Limiting alcohol is a highly effective, modifiable lifestyle change you can make today.
If you have dense tissue, it’s vital that you supplement your regular mammogram with additional screening. Your thick breast tissue can easily mask small tumors, making them invisible on a standard mammogram. On a standard mammogram X-ray, both dense, fibrous tissue and tumors appear white, creating a “masking effect” that makes early cancers hard to spot.
Approximately half of all screening-aged women have dense breasts. This trait not only makes mammograms more difficult to read, but it also increases your breast cancer risk. Adding a breast MRIcan dramatically improve the detection of small, localized tumors. Because MRIs use magnetic fields rather than X-rays, they bypass the limitations of dense tissue to find treatable cancers early. This is generally advised to start at age 50, but might be recommended earlier depending on your body.
Several “causes” of breast cancer are anything but. Claims that underarm antiperspirants cause breast cancer and eating sugar “feeds’ cancer cells are false. Neither allegation is supported by science.
The myth about antiperspirants started decades ago, but extensive studies show no link between them and breast tumors. The confusion often arises because mammogram guidelines ask you to avoid wearing deodorant during your exam, but this is simply because metallic particles in deodorant can mimic calcium deposits on the X-ray.
Similarly, while eating too much sugar can lead to weight gain and obesity, which does increase postmenopausal breast cancer risk by raising estrogen levels, sugar itself doesn’t directly affect your breasts’ potential to develop cancer.
Taking charge of your health starts with personalized, compassionate care. Whether you need to schedule your annual well woman exam or discuss a personalized breast cancer screening plan, we’re here to support you.
Don't wait to prioritize your health. Call or message our team today.