According to a new study in the journal Breast Cancer Research, your genes may not be to blame for everything. Researchers found that independent of a woman’s family history of invasive breast cancer, she can still lower her risk of developing the disease by about one-fourth through healthy lifestyle choices. After analyzing the data of 85,644 postmenopausal women who participated in the Women’s Health Initiative study, which began in 1991, researchers found that women with a family history of breast cancer — determined by having a mother or sister who developed the disease after age 45 — lowered their risk of the disease by about 25 percent by exercising regularly, limiting their alcohol consumption and maintaining a healthy body weight. They found that this was a similar reduction when compared to women with no family history of breast cancer.
The study results reaffirm what ACSH staffers already knew, that obesity in postmenopausal women is a known risk factor for breast cancer. “Alcohol intake has also been associated with breast cancer, although there is some controversy as to how much alcohol is required to significantly increase the risk. Further, we know that supplemental folic acid diminishes whatever risk of breast cancer alcohol consumption poses,” adds ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross.
ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan adds: “I was unaware of the independent benefit of frequent vigorous exercise on reducing breast cancer risk. This is yet another reason to remain active as much as your age and physical condition tolerate.”