By Dr. Carin Shuler PT, DPT, MS, CHC

Have you or a loved one received a diagnosis of breast cancer; or gone through the extensive treatments for breast cancer?

We all fear such a diagnosis and the potential for surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

A diagnosis of breast cancer simply changes our world in an instant. Worse yet, you may have lost a loved one to this awful disease. 

Sadly, breast cancer remains one of the most common cancers in America today and one of the deadliest (1, 2).

Can there be any good news in breast cancer prevention or breast cancer treatment in our world today? Surely, if you or a loved one has endured breast cancer, you know how important prevention and treatment can be. Read on for a better understanding of a breast cancer diet and how this may be one way to help prevent breast cancer.

CLICK HERE for the Rehab House Call’s “Top Tips to Prevent Breast Cancer”!

Every year during the month of October, we all celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness. You’ve seen or worn the breast cancer ribbon or logo. Maybe you’ve been in a fundraising breast cancer walk. We all “think pink” during October. We march and think pink to remember those who have lost the battle to this awful disease. We provide education to give hope and inspiration to those fighting the battle while undergoing breast cancer treatment…and to those who are at risk, to help prevent breast cancer. 

Breast Cancer Incidence

It’s never too late to call for a consultation! This year alone, it is estimated that there will be 276,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer in women. Male breast cancer is less common though 2,620 new cases are projected this year. In total, it is thought that there will be more than 47,000 deaths in 2020 due to breast cancer (3).

Breast Cancer GenesIs

 Is It All in Our Genes?

Older age and being female are the two strongest risk factors for breast cancer (3). We can’t do anything to prevent our aging and we can’t select our gender.  We also can’t select our genes. The good news is that genetics only account for a small percentage of breast cancer cases (4). Some women who have a known family history of breast cancer can have their genetic risk tested. This may allow them to make choices to help prevent future breast cancer in their own bodies. Some choose to takeaction ahead of time and have their breasts removed surgically while they are still healthy.

Breast Cancer Risk Factors  

 The other good news is that there are additional breast cancer risk factors that you can change if needed to help prevent breast cancer (3). These include:  

• Weight gain after the age of 18
• Being overweight or obese (especially for women after menopause)
• Hormone therapy
• Alcohol consumption
• Physical inactivity
• Having children after the age of 30
• Not having children
• Recent use of hormonal contraceptives

Breast Cancer and Obesity

Of all of these, let’s take a closer look at being overweight and/or being obese and how we may be able to help prevent or reduce the risk of breast cancer through nutrition. Scientists now know beyond a doubt that being overweight or obese, especially for older women increases the risk of breast cancer.  In addition, it leads to a more negative outcome when diagnosed with breast cancer in females of all ages (5).

Breast Cancer Diet

Diet is generally thought to be at least partly responsible for up to 40% of all cancers!  (6). Although no one diet nor specific food has been shown to absolutely prevent breast cancer, science has demonstrated that eating a healthier diet does indeed keep your immune system at its best. When your immune system is at its strongest, you are at your best in warding off cancer and other chronic diseases.

It may be a shock to you that breast cancer rates have historically been four to seven times higher in the United States than in Far Eastern Countries (7). Breast cancer has been shown to be lower in countries where the population eats more plant-based foods and fish. Even more of interest, when these Asian women have moved to the United States and have adopted a more Standard American Diet (the “SAD diet”), their breast cancer rates over time reach the same rates of American born white women. CLICK HERE to learn more about the Standard American Diet and Nutrition Matters! 

This study therefore implicates only nutritional issues and/or environmental issues as opposed to inherited genetic traits.  Our SAD diet includes highly processed carbs (like cookies, breads, chips, donuts), unhealthy fats (like foods fried in Crisco Oil or industrial seed oils or vegetable oils) and high sugar (like jellies, candy, cakes, ice cream, table sugar).  CLICK HERE for Food for Breast Cancer Prevention.

Examples of environmental issues that impact our foods here may be pesticides, the unnatural foods we feed our livestock or hormones and antibiotics we give them, or genetically modified foods called GMO’s.

We also know there is an association between obesity and the SAD diet. Such issues may lead to obesity. We know there is an increased breast cancer rate with obesity.  Why might this be? Is it really the obesity alone?

If you feel you or a loved one could benefit from a Free Phone Consultation with a Certified Health Coach to learn more on how to improve your diet to reduce the risk of obesity and breast cancer,  call 951-344-6141 or just CLICK HERE.

Obesity, Insulin and Breast Cancer

Most of us think about obesity and insulin (an important hormone produced by the pancreas) as they relate to diabetes, certainly not breast cancer or any cancer for that matter!  However, did you know that you can be anywhere along a spectrum or range of insulin in your blood from low to high? Where you are on this spectrum has been shown to affect your overall health and lifespan, including what may lead to certain types of cancer! Generally speaking, the higher your insulin levels, the more at risk you are.  Unfortunately, most primary care doctors do not routinely check for insulin levels. (4)

Wait a minute…isn’t it blood sugar diabetics have to worry about, you might ask. You are correct! Diabetics must measure their blood sugar (blood glucose) at least daily.  There are specific reasons for this. However, recent studies are demonstrating the importance of knowing your blood insulin levels too whether you are diabetic or not. Why? 

Insulin Spectrum is a Range Along the Health Span

Research has shown that high insulin levels are a root cause of obesity, illness, chronic health issues and other acquired metabolic problems…not just diabetes!  We are not just “low or high”, “healthy or unhealthy”, “not at risk or high risk” when we consider insulin. It is a health spectrum or range and this spectrum is regardless of obesity. Rehab House Call’s goal is to have our clients’ health-span equal their lifespan! Insulin is really the driver or as some say, the master hormone that drives our health state along this spectrum. Obesity in and of itself isnot the root cause of the breast cancer risk. Insulin is (4)! Let’s consider how we get to have high insulin and the cascade of unhealthy events that it causes that may lead us to have a greater risk for breast cancer, among other diseases.

Insulin Resistance and Breast Cancer Risk

It all begins at a cellular level in our bodies. Every cell in our body can be sensitive to (welcoming to) insulin or resistant to it (not welcoming to it). Insulin carries glucose (our blood sugars) to each cell that needs the glucose to produce energy. Even our individual fat cells can also be insulin sensitive or insulin resistant. What does that mean exactly?  How do we get on the high and unhealthy end of the spectrum?  

Unhealthy Cascade of Events with High Insulin Levels

You might know that the food we eat includes three basic nutrients, called macronutrients. These are carbohydrate, protein and fat.  These three provide us with the energy or fuel that we need in the form of both nutrients and calories.

For the purpose of this blog, let us just consider carbohydrates for now. Our body converts all carbohydrates to sugar (glucose).  Our cells require the glucose for fuel and any extra is stored in our body fat. Our liver also can make glucose as needed. All glucose is delivered to our cells throughout our body by insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas. If we consume too high a level of carbohydrate (sugar) over time, we can overwhelm our system. Sugar levels become too high in our blood. Our pancreas tries to help by making even more and more insulin to handle the sugar overload. Americans historically have often fallen victim to the SAD Diet including too many processed carbs (pasta, cookies, breads, chips, crackers and the like). When this happens, insulin can no longer deliver all the sugar in our blood to the cells that need it. Why is that? 

Insulin Resistance

Insulin keeps knocking on all the cells’ doors (receptor sites) to deliver the sugarfrom all the high carbs eaten. With time, the cells become no longer interested or welcoming to the repetitive knocking. They have an abundance of sugar and no longer answer the door! They become insulin resistant. As a result, we also now have too much insulin and too much sugar floating around in our blood.

Some of the sugar attaches itself to our red blood cells, called hemoglobin. This is why physicians will test a person’s A1C that you may have heard abouton diabetic medicine commercials. This test shows the average amount of the linked sugar to red blood cells over about a three-month period of time. When the A1C is high, there is too much blood sugar in your body that is not being put to use and can indeed lead to diabetes. More and more of the blood sugar is also delivered instead to be stored in our fat cells. More and more fat expands our body type, often stored in and around our organs and abdomen, called visceral fat. This then leads to obesity, high blood sugar and high blood insulin levels. Our immune system tries to fight back from this unhealthy state and responds with a high degree of inflammation throughout our body. A chronic (long-term) inflammatory state or hyper-inflammatory state is unhealthy. This leads to a failing immune system, poorer health and eventually to disease states such as possibly breast cancer or Type II Diabetes.

Visceral Fat and Breast Cancer Risk

Our Fat Cells Are Not Just Blobs of Fat!

Believe it or not, our fat cells are active! One action they perform is to help produce the female hormone, estrogen. Some breast cancers are triggered by higher levels of estrogen. As we Americans tend to consume an unhealthy diet leading to increased weight gain, estrogen levels may therefore rise as our fat cells expand. This then puts us at greater risk of these types of hormonally triggered breast cancers.

Insulin is the Driver

Insulin is the driver and must be controlled along that spectrum (4).  If we are on the higher end of the spectrum, insulin and other hormones that help us to control our appetite and weight become unable to operate as they should. As they fail, we move into a more dangerous state of health.  Our bodies
respond with more fat storage, poorer regulation over our individual bodily systems, more inflammation and decreased immunity. Over time, all this failure can lead to not only breast cancer but to other forms of cancer and all forms of chronic diseases, including Type 2 Diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Healthy Food Choices to Keep Low on the Insulin Spectrum to Help Prevent Breast Cancer

The answer is relatively simple. Just say NO to high carbs, especially junk carbs! And eat REAL food! CLICK HERE to see Rehab House Call’s Healthy Food Choices to Prevent Breast Cancer.

Yes, it is easier to say than to put into practice!  You might begin by eliminating any processed, highly refined carbs in your diet such as anything made with refined wheat flour. Or you can eliminate sodas with their high sugar content. You can replace the high carbs with healthy fats and other natural fruits and vegetables low in sugar content. Healthy fats are foods like avocados, wild caught fish such as salmon and sardines, healthy natural oils like olive oil and coconut oil and walnuts as examples. Fruits and vegetables low in sugar (called low glycemic index or low glycemic load) include cherries, strawberries, kiwi, peaches, grapefruit and onions, lettuce, cabbage, green peas as examples. Think about selecting and eating the rainbow of colors of fresh, real foods.

There are additional recommendations regarding the other two macronutrients, protein and fat.  There are also other recommendations in reducing your consumption of what are commonly known as industrial seed oils. The latter also increases your body’s overall inflammatory state. Although we are concentrating on the effects of insulin resistance relative to high carb intake here and the cascade of events that may lead to greater risk of breast cancer, watch for upcoming blogs at RehabHouseCall.org for more information on insulin resistance, the insulin spectrum, healthy nutritional information and lifestyle changes!  And click here to see “Foods to Avoid with Breast Cancer”.

While we do not believe that any diet can cure or successfully treat a diagnosed breast cancer tumor alone, science supports tailoring your food choices to
your individual needs and circumstances (as well as to your breast cancer type if diagnosed). In this way, you can take full advantage of your healthy diet to help prevent breast cancer, support any breast cancer treatment and to also help prevent any recurrence once in remission. 

If you would like to simply add an ounce of prevention, or individualize your breast cancer diet and support your current treatment, please feel free to Call 951-344-6141 CLICK HERE for your Free Phone Consultation.

Clearly, we are advancing in our fight against breast cancer. We are also learning more and more that what we put into our mouth affects our health in a myriad of ways. Scientists and research physicians will continue efforts to bring us even more information on these very important subjects. Stay tuned and Rehab House Call will keep you up to date! 

References:

• https://www.cancer.gov. Last accessed October 5, 2020.
• https://www.gov/cancer. Last accessed October 5, 2020.
• American Cancer Society: Cancer Facts and Figures 2020. Atlanta, GA: American Cancer Society, 2020. Also accessed online (https://www.cancer.org). Last accessed October 5, 2020.
• Cummins, Ivor and Gerber, Jeffry. “Eat Rich and Live Long”. Victory Belt Publishing, Inc, 2018
• nlm.nih.gov. Last accessed October 5, 2020.
• org
• Ziegler RG, Hoover RN, Pike MC, Hildesheim A, Nomura AM, West DW, Wu-Williams AH, Kolonel LN, Horn-Ross PL, Rosenthal JF, Hyer MB. Migration patterns and breast cancer risk in Asian-American women. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1993 Nov 17;85(22):1819-27. doi: 10.1093/jnci/85.22.1819. PMID: 8230262.
• https://foodforbreastcancer.com/recommended-foods.php. Last accessed October 19, 2020.