Dr. Peter J. Weiss

Today I’d like to talk about a sen­si­tive sub­ject – breast can­cer. Now breast can­cer gets a lot of play and a lot of atten­tion in the media.

We just had a whole month devoted to breast can­cer. It seems like there was pink every­where and pink rib­bons every­where.

There was a lot of stress put on the early diag­no­sis of breast can­cer with mam­mo­grams and expand­ing mam­mog­ra­phy rates. And there was a lot of empha­sis put on treat­ment for breast can­cer, breast can­cer sur­vivor­ship and bet­ter treat­ment for breast can­cer. But what you don’t hear a lot about is the pre­ven­tion of breast can­cer through lifestyle change.

Did you know that about 40 per­cent, and pos­si­bly more, of breast can­cers in the United States are related to our lifestyle? And did you know that that being over­weight causes your risk for breast can­cer to go up?

Being seden­tary causes your risk for breast can­cer to go up? Drink­ing alco­hol causes your risk for breast can­cer to go up? Where is this mes­sag­ing com­ing out in our media? This isn’t the usual mes­sage.

But if your lifestyle con­tributes that much to your risk of breast can­cer, shouldn’t we be talk­ing about that, at least as much as we talk about get­ting the mam­mo­gram? I think so.

So why don’t try these mes­sages on for size. “Pre­vent breast can­cer by los­ing 20 pounds.” “Pre­vent breast can­cer – drink less alco­hol.” “Pre­vent breast can­cer by going to the gym and work­ing out.”

These are things that we need to be say­ing, and I hope to hear more about this in the media. Mean­while, research it for your­self. Get on the inter­net, look up “breast can­cer” and “lifestyle fac­tors.”

Find out the facts and then take action to con­trol your own lifestyle and reduce your risk of breast can­cer. You can do it.