Breast Cancer, breast cancer and exercise survival rates, broccoli, xenoestrogens, estrogen effects in the body, DIM, idole 3 carbinol
I was reading a report in the news about breast cancer and exercise. The report says that breast cancer risk is reduced with exercise. No surprise there, since we all know the general benefits of exercise gives by lowering your risk of heart disease and diabetes, weight loss .
Before we get in to that in more detail, let us talk about statistics for breast cancer so you know how common it is and how important it is to do the best you can in preventing breast Ca.
First of all breast cancer is most common cancer in women. Secondly 1 in 8 women develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Thirdly every 13 minutes one woman dies of breast cancer. Other than some statistics, it’s important to know what increases breast cancer risk. Family history is a very important risk factor; if a family member has breast cancer then you are more likely to develop breast cancer as well. The following risks factors are related to increased estrogen exposure: women who have never been pregnant, women who have early menarche and late menopause, and women who have never breast fed their infants.
The study was done in 30,000 post-menopausal women and results showed a 30 percent decrease risk with exercise. This decrease risk was not only in overweight women, but all the women who exercised had a decreased risk. I would also like to mention that a low fat diet has also been shown to decrease estrogen levels and therefore will also decrease risk of breast cancer. Other researchers have noted that breast cancer survivors that exercised 3 to 5 hours each week had the best survival rates.
What about broccoli? Broccoli is a high antioxidant vegetable. It has many cancer fighting nutrients. It is also a rich source of fiber, Vitamin C, beta carotene and folic acid. It is best if eaten lightly steamed to get the optimal amount of anti-cancer compound sulforaphane. Actually it is very helpful to consume many different cruciferous vegetables every day. Examples are cabbages of all types, brussels sprout, broccoli, cauliflower, kale and radishes. They contain high levels of indole-3-carbinol and diindolylmethane(DIM) compounds that are important in detoxification of estrogen.
What about xenoestrogens? Xenoestrogens are chemical compounds that have estrogen mimicking effects in the body. Examples are organochlorine pesticides such as DDT, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins. As mentioned earlier, increased exposure to estrogen in a woman’s lifetime will increase her risk of developing breast cancer. So if we add xenoestrogens to the mix then it makes sense that these chemicals will also increase risk since they raise estrogen in the body. They seem to inhibit the biochemical pathway that allows for proper estrogen metabolism all the while not being eliminated from the body themselves.
So, my message is that everyone knows exercise is very important for general health but we let our excuses or other thing get in the way. Exercise is one of the most basic principles to healthy living. Eating organic fruits and vegetables with high levels of nutrients will also lead to better health.