As you age, your breasts become less dense, and it is easier to perform a breast self-exam (BSEs).The average age of a woman who receives a breast cancer diagnosis is 62, which is why women in their 60s need to be more vigilant than ever about breast health.
1. Continue getting annual mammograms and annual clinical exams. Screening becomes more important the older you get because your risk keeps going up, says Julie R. Gralow, MD, director of breast medical oncology at the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. “Fortunately, the older you get, the more fatty your breasts, and the easier it is to read mammograms,” she notes. And while mammograms and clinical exams don’t prevent cancer, they can prevent complications from treatment. “If you find it early, you can just get a lumpectomy and you may not need chemo.”
2. Track any changes in your own breasts. The older you are, the easier it is to do breast self-exams (BSEs), because breasts are less dense, says Dr. Gralow. Here are instructions on how to check your own breasts.
3. Drink less alcohol. “This means no more than one drink per day,” says Anne McTiernan, MD, PhD, director of the Prevention Center at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and coauthor, with Dr. Gralow, of Breast Fitness: An Optimal Exercise and Health Plan for Reducing Your Risk of Breast Cancer. “Alcohol use increases your risk for breast cancer.” A recent National Cancer Institute study of postmenopausal women found that those who had one to two small drinks a day were 32% more likely to develop the most common type of breast cancer (that with tumors that are positive for both estrogen and progesterone receptors). Women who had three or more drinks daily had as high as a 51% increased risk for hormone-sensitive breast cancer.
4. Exercise regularly. Studies suggest that exercising three to four hours per week at moderate or vigorous levels can reduce your risk of breast cancer by about 20%. “It’s never too late to start,” says Dr. McTiernan. “We found in the Women’s Health Initiative that there was a benefit to exercising in middle to late years even in women who were inactive when young.” And you don’t have to be Dara Torres to reap the benefits: Activities like brisk walking, biking, dancing, or any exercise that raises your heart rate above its baseline level for at least 20 minutes and makes you sweat are beneficial.
5. Eat a healthy diet. Try to eat 10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day and limit your intake of red meat to 4 ounces (about the size of a deck of cards) per day on average. Dr. McTiernan also recommends avoiding meats such as sausages and bologna. “The chemicals that are used to process the meats have been found to cause several kinds of cancers,” she notes. Strive also to minimize your intake of high-calorie foods such as sugary drinks, juice, desserts, and candies, as well as refined breads and chips.
6. Maintain your body weight, or lose weight if you're overweight. Research has shown that being overweight or obese (especially if you're past menopause) increases your risk, especially if you put on the weight as an adult. And a study released in March 2008 by researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston showed that obese and overweight women also had lower breast cancer survival rates and a greater chance of more aggressive disease than average-weight or underweight women. Find your healthy weight. A body mass index (BMI) of 25 or less is considered healthy.
7. Consider chemoprevention to reduce your cancer risk. Tamoxifen and raloxifene both reduce the chance of developing breast cancer by half for women at increased risk for breast cancer, says Dr. McTiernan—and all women over the age of 60 fall into that category. Talk to your doctor about the benefits and risks of these medications.
Breast Cancer Quiz
Taken from Health.com
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