Cancer Control [news]
Ask a doctor about the best ways to prevent breast cancer, and you're likely to hear about a number of things you can't easily control: being blessed with the right genes, hitting puberty later than age 12, having your first child before you're 30. It's not exactly a basis for action.
Increasingly, though, physicians are mentioning a few things you can do that just might help reduce the frightening 1-in-8 odds of getting breast cancer.
They include keeping to a low-fat diet, watching your weight, avoiding stress and getting plenty of exercise.
The strongest evidence that lifestyle can make a difference comes from studies of women who have already had breast cancer. A study published in May found, for instance, that patients who had switched to a low-fat diet, with no more than 20% of their daily calories derived from fat, had a 24% lower rate of breast-cancer recurrence within five years than women who did not alter their eating habits.
