A FIGHTING CHANCE

A GUIDE TO HEALTHY EATING TO HELP PREVENT AND OVERCOME BREAST CANCER

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BREAST CANCER

You may be reading this because you have been diagnosed with breast cancer or a friend or member of your family has. It could be that you want to prevent this disease or just want to find our more about the most common cancer affecting women in the UK....

Whatever your reasons, this guide, based on the latest science, explains how meat and dairy foods are linked to breast cancer. It will help you discover different ways of eating healthier, tastier foods that don’t contain the harmful substances found in meat and dairy but do contain vital fibre and disease-busting compounds.

It also contains a useful seven-day meal plan with easy-to-follow, inspiring recipes, as well as a list of delicious superfood ingredients with an explanation as to why they can help combat illness.

This guide cannot guarantee to cure cancer but it does provide the scientific and nutritional information you need to make an informed choice about which foods to eat that, coupled to conventional therapy, can help overcome breast cancer. It also shows you how to eat healthily to help prevent breast cancer.

If you would like to read a more thorough review of the scientific research on breast cancer and diet see the VVF’s fully-referenced scientific report One in Nine available free online at www.vegetarian.org.uk or for £2.50 from the VVF. The title refers to the number of women in the UK who will get breast cancer in their lifetime. This report explains why breast cancer cases are continuing to rise and looks at how diet affects your risk of developing one of the West’s major killers.

BREAST AWARENESS

Breast development

During puberty, blood levels of the sex hormone oestrogen rise, causing the development of sexual organs and secondary sexual characteristics, such as breasts and body hair, so that reproduction becomes possible. During this time girls develop milk-producing glands called lobules at the back of the breasts. These lobules are connected to tiny tubes called ducts that can carry milk to the nipple. The lobules, ducts and blood vessels are surrounded by fatty tissue and connective tissue called stroma, attached to the chest wall. Men have much less fatty tissue in their breasts than women but can still be affected by breast cancer.

The female breast
Picture credit Philip Downs

Breast changes

Try to get to know how your breasts normally look and feel. This will help you notice any changes early on, which is very important as effective treatment is then more likely.

Look out for the following changes:

If one breast becomes larger than the other
If a nipple becomes inverted
Rashes on or around the nipple
Discharge from one or both nipples
Skin texture changes (puckering or dimpling)
Swelling under the armpit or around the collarbone (where the lymph nodes are)
A lump that you feel is different to the rest of your breast tissue
Continuous pain in one part of the breast or armpit (not a common symptom)

If you notice any of these changes, make an appointment to see your GP as soon as you can but try not to worry as most changes do not turn out to be breast cancer.

Different types of breast cancer

When cancer occurs, cells grow in an uncontrolled way. If untreated, the cells may spread to other parts of the body. If the cancer cells develop in the ducts of the breast, the cancer is called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). If they occur in the lobules, it is referred to as lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS). If the cancer cells have spread into the surrounding breast tissue, lymph glands or further within the body, it is called invasive breast cancer.

Oestrogen sensitive cancers

Oestrogen receptor-positive (ER-positive) cancer is when there are certain proteins on the surface of the cancer cell that respond to oestrogen by causing the cancer cell to grow. Most breast cancers (around 75 per cent in postmenopausal women and 50-60 per cent in premenopausal women) are ER-positive. Determining whether breast cancer is ER-positive or not can help to guide treatment as women with ER-positive cancer are usually offered hormone therapy (to block the effects of oestrogen), whereas women with ER-negative breast cancer are usually offered chemotherapy.

NUMBER CRUNCHING

The rising tide...

Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women in the UK and one in nine women will get this disease. Each year more than 44,000 women are diagnosed with it: that’s more than 100 women a day. Breast cancer accounts for nearly a third of all cancer cases in women in the UK.

Ten most common cancers in UK women

There has been much publicity about how improved diagnostic techniques and treatment methods have improved the chances of surviving breast cancer. Indeed, survival rates have been improving for more than 20 years and more women are surviving than ever before. However, not so well publicised is the fact that the chances of getting breast cancer are rising year on year. The number of cases in UK women is increasing by more than one per cent each year. Between 1971 and 2003, the incidence rates have increased by an astounding 80 per cent!

Incidence and mortality (death) rates of breast cancer in England and Wales
between 1971 and 2003

Male breast cancer

Breast cancer can occur in men too although the numbers affected are a great deal lower; one in 300 men in the UK at some point in their lives compared to one in nine women. However, the incidence of breast cancer among men is also increasing. Between 1973 and 1998, it increased by 26 per cent. What is particularly worrying is that men tend to have larger tumours which have spread further by the time they seek help. It should be remembered, though, that breast cancer is rare amongst men. The five most common cancers in UK men are prostate (24 per cent), lung (16 per cent), bowel (14 per cent), bladder (five per cent) and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (four per cent).

Breast cancer around the world

Studies show that the number of people who get breast cancer in different countries varies widely. Some countries have a much higher incidence than others. For example, in Northern Europe and North America the risk of breast cancer is many times higher than that in parts of Asia and Africa.

Breast cancer rates in selected countries in 2002

Why do the rates of breast cancer among different populations vary so much? Some people suggest it is due to genetic differences between populations. Maybe white Northern European women are genetically programmed to be more susceptible to breast cancer than Chinese women? However, this is simply not the case.

Scientific studies show that when people move from a country that experiences very low levels of breast cancer to one with a much higher incidence (for example Japanese women moving to the US), their risk of breast cancer soon changes to match that of where they move to. This shows us that genes alone are not the cause and that some environmental factor such as chemical pollutants or diet must be involved.

Breast cancer rates in the UK

UK breast cancer rates vary from region to region. For example lower rates are seen in some areas of Yorkshire, Trent and Wales and significantly higher rates are found in East Anglia, Oxford and in the Southwest. This must reflect differences in diet and lifestyle. Furthermore, South Asian women living in the UK are less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than other women but the risk varies according to ethnic subgroups. For example, Muslim women from India and Pakistan are almost twice as likely to develop breast cancer as Gujarati Hindu women. This may be because Gujarati women are more likely to be vegetarian and will therefore have a higher intake of fruit and vegetables in their diet which has been shown to lower the risk of breast cancer.

These observations have led scientists to investigate the causes of breast cancer, including the role of diet.

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© Vegetarian & Vegan Foundation (VVF) 2007. Registered Charity 1037486.
Recipes by Jane Easton, VVF.
Published by the Vegetarian & Vegan Foundation, 8 York Court, Wilder Street, Bristol BS2 8QH.
T: 0117 970 5190 E: info@vegetarian.org.uk W: www.vegetarian.org.uk