Long Term Use of Hormones Increases Breast Cancer Risk
If you are a woman and have been using any type of hormones to ease menopause symptoms, you could be upping breast cancer risk. Recent research shows that the use of these hormones over a long period of time ignites a minor increase in breast cancer risk.
Tracking the health of nearly 60,000 nurses, the recent study found that 10 years or more of hormone use was enough to raise breast cancer risk, although it is recommended that the lowest dose possible be used for the shortest amount of time possible. The research is surprising to many as some women who were taking estrogen alone were thought to have a decreased chance of developing breast cancer. And it is already known that taking pills combining estrogen and progestin — the most common type of hormone therapy — can increase breast cancer risk.
“There’s a continued increase in risk with longer durations of use and there does not appear to be a plateau,” said study leader Dr. Wendy Chen of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
The research also supports the possibility and previous evidence linking hormone-mimicking chemicals like BPA to increase breast cancer risk. In fact, there are more than 130 studies confirming the link between bisphenol A (BPA) and breast cancer.
In addition to realizing the connection between long-term hormone use and increased breast cancer risk, there are a few other things to take into consideration when trying to avoid breast cancer. For example, a recent study found that a class of chemicals known as parabens, which are present in the majority of mainstream consumer products, were present in 99 percent of breast cancer patients tested.
“It’s hard to be surprised that if you keep taking it, sooner or later it’s going to raise risk,” said Dr. Robert Clarke of Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
What’s more, many breast cancer patients are actually participating in completely unnecessary and ineffective mammograms which are actually contributing to cancer risk. Even mainstream health officials are admitting that breast cancer screening methods are not only ineffective, but are leading to improper diagnoses and unnecessary treatments at around 7,000 per year. These unnecessary and ineffective solutions are prompting radiation-induced DNA damage in epithelial breast cells — an issue also increasing breast cancer risk.
