breast cancer

Wednesday Bubble: red or white? Can wine choice affect breast cancer risk?

Posted by Liz on Oct 14, 2009 in breast cancer | 4 comments

Hey all you wine lovers out there! There’s encouraging news out of last month’s North American Menopause Society meeting: red wine may work in the body the same way that aromotase inhibitors (agents that are used to block the production of estrogen and halt breast cancer) do!

In this study, researchers assigned 36 pre-menopausal women to red wine first (cabernet savignon) and then white wine (chardonnay). Each participant drank 8 ounces of the wine in the evening with food, did not drive afterward (for safety) and agreed to avoid other alcoholic beverages or grape products. Each “treatment” lasted one menstrual cycle (~1month) and included a break to “wash” the body of the prior wine type. All participants had their blood collected during the early follicular (day 5-8) and mid-luteal (days 17-21) phases in the period just before the study and during the two “treatment” cycles.

The results showed that compared to white,  red wine significantly increased levels of freely circulating testosterone in the body and also led to lower levels of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and estradiol. In other words, this means that similar to aromatase inhibitors, red wine helped prevent testosterone from converting to estrogen, thereby leading to lower levels of estradiol and estrone, which in turn, would provide a means of starving an estrogen dependent tumor.

Although these findings are VERY preliminary, they do give hope that researchers might be on the cusp of realizing more natural ways to prevent breast cancer tumor growth. Let’s keep hope alive! Donate to breast cancer research.

Good health and cheers!

Wednesday Bubble: breast cancer during menopause- move your body

Posted by Liz on Oct 7, 2009 in breast cancer, exercise | 0 comments

[Credit: Stephen diFilipo, Fountain at the Gaylord Hotel, National Harbor ©2009. With permission]

October is National Breast Cancer month. In honor of family and friends who have survived breast cancer, I am dedicating this month’s Bubbles to posting choice bits of information about the topic this month. I admire these women greatly – for their strength, their tenacity and their hope. Rock on ladies!

Nothing like a bit of good news to kick off the month!

Early this year, I wrote about a study showing that exercise could help reduce breast cancer risk. Today’s post provides evidence that the timing and intensity of that activity makes a huge difference.

In this study, which appears in BioMed Central Cancer, researchers examined and compared the relationship of light physical activity to moderate to vigorous activity and its association to breast cancer risk in 118,699 women in menopause. Activity levels were studied during four periods of life: ages 15 to 18, ages 19 to 29, ages 35 to 39 and the past 10 years. Light activities included bowling, golf (riding in a cart), table tennis, slow walking/slow dancing, light calesthenics, light gardening, fishing, horseshoes/croquet and light housework. Moderate-to-vigorous activities included tennis, golf (walking), biking, swimming, heavy gardening, weight lifting, basketball/baseball, football/soccer, cheerleading/drill team, handball/raquetball, hiking/mountain climbing, fast walking/fast dancing, rowing, aeroboics, jogging/running and heavy housework.

The researchers found no association between activity intensity and breast cancer risk in the time periods leading up to menopause. However, Women engaging in more than 7 hours per week of  moderate to vigorous activity during the past 10 years had a significant, 16% lower risk of developing breast cancer compared to women who were inactive or only engaged in light activity. This benefit remained even when the researchers took factors such as age, body mass index, family history, or hormone use into consideration. The type of tumour cancer stage also had no effect.

Although researchers have been aware that a high versus low level of physical activity may protect against developing breast cancer during menopause, this is the first study to actually examine activity during other time periods and then compare them to more recent time periods.

Clearly, it’s time to move your body if you’ve not been doing so. A 16% reduction in breast cancer risk is significant.

Wednesday Bubble: Turmeric…too good to be true?

Posted by Liz on Sep 9, 2009 in breast cancer, HRT | 4 comments

I’ve been hearing lots lately about turmeric, that lovely Indian spice that turns everything it touches a sunny shade of yellow. Turmeric is in the ginger family, and its active ingredient is called cucurmin. Not only is it well-regarded in Chinese and Indian medicine for its anti-inflammatory properties, but from a strictly nutritional standpoint, it is an excellent source of iron, manganese and also provides vitamin B6, dietary fiber and potassium.

However, there has also been lots of buzz over turmeric’s potential as an anti-cancer agent, which is why I was intrigued when I ran across an experimental study published in the Advanced online edition of Menopause suggesting that cucurmin may slow the development of breast cancer tumours in rats exposed to hormone therapy. In this study, rats were first given growth proteins that promote blood vessel growth,  implanted with pellets containing hormone therapy and then treated with turmeric. The results showed that turmeric delayed tumour growth, decreased the overall incidence of tumours and also reduce their ability to multiply.

Results of both animal and human studies have shown that hormone therapy can significantly increase breast cancer risk. Although the action for this is not entirely understood, the progestin component in hormone therapy appears to accelerate tumour development by promoting chemical signals by cells that stimulate new blood vessels. When overstimulated, this can cause disease, and allow tumour cells to grow. In this study, turmeric either slowed or prevented this action.

Mind you, this is an animal study and the jury is still year’s out. However, these promising results may prompt researchers to evaluate whether or not turmeric is an active anti-cancer agent in women who have been exposed to hormone therapy and are at risk for breast cancer.

Meanwhile, Indian food is sounding like a great idea for dinner tonight!

Wednesday Bubble: Risk

Posted by Liz on Mar 11, 2009 in breast cancer | 0 comments

Do data justify routine assessments of breast cancer in older women? According to a study published in the March 10 online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the answer is a resounding “yes!”

Researchers from the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute in San Francisco systematically reviewed published literature and meta-analyses of various aspects of breast cancer risk and prevention, including risk assessment models, breast density measurements and lifestyle factors.

While the results showed that measures of breast density (which can be determined in mammograms) were very strong predictors of a woman’s risk for developing breast cancer, risk assessment models, which use medical history and demographics (e.g. race, age, income, socioeconomic status, etc) were only moderately accurate in predicting risk.

Yet, when combined, the risk of developing breast cancer could be determine more accurately in  roughly a third of women.

Study Implications

The researchers note that “for women at high risk of developing breast cancer, the findings are very significant.” For example, women who learn that they are at high risk might want to consider more frequent mammograms or digital scans such as MRIs.  They also say that treatments such as raloxifene and tamoxifen, when used for five years, confer roughly 15 years of protection. Conversely, women at low risk may be able to reduce the frequency of mammograms.

Importantly, lifestyle factors such as regular exerise, losing weight, a low-fat diet and reducing alcohol intake appeared to lower breast cancer risk in women of all ages. However, eating more fruits and vegetables did not seem to make any difference. This is not to say, however, that women should eliminate fruits and vegetables from their diet as studies do suggest that these foods are protective against other forms of cancer, such as colon cancer.

In a time when evidence is accruing against HRT and its health ramifications, it’s assuring to know that there are ways to determine if we’ve placed ourselves at greater risk of disease and strategies to counteract our missteps.

Wednesday Bubble: Just say “no”

Posted by Liz on Feb 25, 2009 in bone health, breast cancer, hot flash, HRT, nightsweats | 4 comments

Gonna burst that hormone bubble at least one more time. Seems that the synthetic hormone Livial, which is billed as an alternative to HRT, significantly increases the risk of breast cancer recurrence. Ouch!

Livial is a selective tissue estrogenic regulator (SERM), which mimics estrogen’s activity with regards to strengthening bones. The agent has mostly been marketed in Europe for treatment of hot flashes, night sweats and bone loss, as well as a treatment for osteoporosis.

In a study reported in the current issue of The Lancet Oncology, researchers evaluated the effectiveness of 2.5 mg/day of Livial compared to placebo  in more than 3,000 women with a history of breast cancer. Although the agent had a positive effect symptoms and bone density, the trial was stopped six months early because women taking Livial had a 40% increased risk of having their breast cancer return.

The researchers state that the likely reason for this increase is that Livial interferes with the protective effect of different cancer drugs and might stimulate dormant tumors to become active again.

Clearly, Livial should not be used in women with a history of breast cancer. Then again, with data definitively showing an increased risk of cancer and heart disease with use of hormone therapy, why take a chance to begin with?

What are your thoughts? Is estrogen worth the risk for a few less symptoms? Or are you better off taking an alternative route?

Poor man’s plastic surgery, and even better!

Posted by Liz on Feb 9, 2009 in breast cancer, exercise | 5 comments

Exercise! Benefits aside, loved this poster! But that’s not the reason for this post.

Not only can exercise help improve mood and keep bones strong during menopause, but it appears that physical activity after menopause may help to lower the risk for breast cancer. Yet another reason to keep moving that body of yours.

German researchers evaluated the health records from 3,414 postmenopausal women who were participating in a study on breast cancer. Physical activity (sports, cycling, walking) was assessed during two periods — ages 30 to 49 and over age 50 — and compared to non-recreational physical activity (occupational, household activities).

Study findings showed that physically active women had a .71 lower odds of developing breast estrogen and progesterone receptor positive breast cancer. A similar effect was not seen on estrogen/progesterone receptor negative cancers.

Notably, these results remained even after the researchers took into account weight gain, body mass index and caloric intake, leading the researchers to conclude that continuing to be active after menopause may help to reduce the risk of developing certain breast cancers. This effect appears to be related to specific hormonal pathways and not body composition.

The study was published in the December 1 issue of Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Strong motivation to keep moving, right?!