A former breast surgeon shares her advice on reducing breast cancer risk, emphasizing the significant impact of alcohol consumption.
It is the most common cancer in the UK — and cases are rising at an alarming rate. Breast cancer diagnoses have jumped by over a quarter since the 1990s, according to Cancer Research UK. More worrying, the incidence of the deadly disease in seemingly healthy under 50 year-olds has risen by a tenth over the last 20 years.
As a former breast surgeon who was diagnosed with breast cancer at just 40-years-old, I'm often asked about the reason behind the trend — and what the public can do to ward off early-onset disease. The truth is diet is only a very small risk factor when it comes to cancer. Most people with breast cancer have simply been struck by a bout of very bad luck. Having said that, there is one change that is proven to prevent the disease. It's a simple lifestyle tweak, and it could reduce your risk of breast cancer by up to 60 per cent. I'm talking about reducing your alcohol intake — or even quitting booze completely. It's been estimated that around one in 10 breast cancer cases are linked to alcohol, according to a report published in the prestigious Lancet journal last year. That’s more than 4,000 patients a year. What you eat after cancer is the same as what you should eat before cancer — a plant rich diet full of fruit and veg and grains, according to the World Cancer Research Fund guidelines. There are two reasons why drinking can raise your risk of breast cancer. Firstly, booze is broken down in the body to a chemical called acetaldehyde, which is known to stop cells repairing the damage to your DNA that can trigger the development of tumours. It also increases the amount of hormones in our body, such as oestrogen and insulin, that can make cells in breast tissue divide more frequently, increasing the likelihood of a cancer-causing mutation. The more you drink, the greater your increase in ris
BREAST CANCER ALCOHOL RISK LIFESTYLE SURVIVOR
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