October is the pink month: a month to make people aware about a serious disease: breast cancer. Breast cancer is a disease caused by the multiplication of abnormal cells in the breast, forming the tumor.
This disease is what causes more deaths among Brazilian women: there are 1,38 million new cases and 458.000 deaths per year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). According the Brazilian Society of Mastology, about 1 in 12 women will have breast tumor until they are 90 years old. The reason is that, in most cases, the cancer is discovered late and the tumor is already advanced. Thinking about it, we have some tips on how to prevent this.
Tips On How To Prevent Breast Cancer
-
Physical exercise: It’s necessary to move! If you don’t have time for gym, you can do some exercises at home, ride a bike or hike for 30 minutes everyday.
-
Healthy eating: The fact is, the more healthy you eat, the less medicine you will need. Balanced food is essential: try to eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, proteins (prefer fish and chicken, they are less harmful than read meat) and whole grains. Also, organics are the best option.
-
Don’t smoke: Accumulating evidence suggests a link between smoking and breast cancer risk, particularly in premenopausal women. In addition, not smoking is one of the best things you can do for your overall health.
-
Self exam: About of 80% of the cases are discovered by self exam. Breast cancer is silent, that why the self exam is so important.
-
Mammograms: Women over the age of 40 need to have mammograms every 2 years, especially those who have a history of breast cancer in the family.
-
Don’t drink too much alcohol: The more alcohol you drink, bigger are the risks of developing breast cancer. The general recommendation is to limit yourself to less than 1 drink per day.
-
Breastfeed: Breast-feeding play an important role in breast cancer prevention. The longer you breast-feed, better the protective effect.