Breast cancer affects mainly women with one out of nine women encountering the risk of developing breast cancer over her lifetime.

Treatment for breast cancer has advanced with various drugs and procedures being developed and put into clinical use. One of the more common forms of cancer therapy is to undergo chemotherapy treatment. This used to be a painful and fatigue inducing exercise where the patient has to undergo frequent trips to the hospital. However with the introduction of oral chemotherapy, patients can now undertake the medication from the comfort of their own homes. Known as capecitabine pills, patients are prescribed 12 hourly medications for 2 weeks in a row, with another weekly interval in between for the body to recover.

The risks of getting breast cancer has also been reduced by the introduction of tamoxifen in 1998. This drug has a reported 50% effectiveness but the side effects made it uncomfortable for many patients which includes hot flashes. Tamoxifen has since then been replaced by raloxifene, which has less side effects but delivered the same degree of effectiveness in reducing breast cancer risk.

Even though modern medicine has advanced breast cancer research and treatment options to a new level, our modern lifestyle has been linked to playing an important role in raising the risk levels as well. So in my opinion, modern medicine is only playing catch up.

We can take a proactive role by doing some of the following activities, if not all of them, to reduce your breast cancer risk as well as developing a great healthy lifestyle.

An elevated estrogen level has been linked to greatly increased risk of breast cancer. We can help rein in our estrogen levels thorough regular 30 minutes a day exercise, 5 times a week. This should help to keep our weight in control which is also another factor in maintaining healthy estrogen levels. Any gains over 70 pounds could possibly double our risk levels.

Stay away from foods high in polyunsaturated fats such as sunflower oils, switch over to olive oil, which is a tasty and healthy monounsaturated fat source. Fruits and vegetables that are high in carotenoids, which are known to have cancer reducing properties, have plenty of these on a daily basis especially carrots, tomatoes and watermelons.