Saturday, September 12, 2009

“Breast Cancer Realities in America in 2009” plus 2 more

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“Breast Cancer Realities in America in 2009” plus 2 more

Breast Cancer Realities in America in 2009

Posted: 11 Sep 2009 09:00 AM PDT

Seer Stats fact sheet estimates that 192,370 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during 2009 and of those 40,170 women will die of cancer in the same year. The median age for women being diagnosed was 61 years of age, and none were under the age of twenty; 1.9% were aged 20 and 34; 10.5% were diagnosed between 35 and 44. From the ago of forty five the incidence rose sharply 22.5% were between 45 and 54; 23.7% were aged between 55 and 64. After 65 and between 74 the incidence dropped again to 19.6%, 16.2% were aged between 75 and 84; and finally 5.5% 85+ years of age. Just because their were only five and a half percent diagnosed at over 85 merely indicates that there were less women in that age group living.

The incidence was higher in white women as 123.8 per 100,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer, blacks were diagnosed at 117.7 per 100,000 women, the Polynesians less still as 89.5 per 100,000 women , Hispanics had 88.3 per 100,000 women And native American Indian/Alaska Native had the least number affected. 74.4 per 100,000 women

From 2002-2006, the median age at death in America for cancer of the breast was 68 years of age, though 1.0% between 20 and 34; 6.2% between 35 and 44; 15.1% between 45 and 54; 20.3% between 55 and 64; 19.8% between 65 and 74; 22.8% between 75 and 84; and 14.9% 85+ years of age.

The age-adjusted death rate was 24.5 per 100,000 women per year. These rates are based on patients who died in 2002-2006 in the US.

In terms of trends the highest deaths occurred in the eighties when the mortality rate increased overall by four percent between 1980 and 1987, when the use of HRT in creased dramatically. Trend wise the greatest drop was between 1995 and 1998 when fears between HRT and breast cancer made a large number of women about the wisdom of HRT.

89.1% reached the magical 5-year relative survival rate between 1999-2005, which means that 10.9% did not make the five year breast cancer survival landmark. 90.3% of white women got to the five year breast cancer survival stage and only 77.9% of black women. However that is not necessarily an indication of genetics or ethnicity but could reflect the women who could afford the best treatment.

60% of breast cancer cases are diagnosed while the cancer is still confined to the primary site (localized stage); a third or 33% are diagnosed after the cancer has spread to regional lymph nodes or directly beyond the primary site; 5% are diagnosed after the cancer has already metastasized (distant stage) and for the remaining 2% the information was unknown. The corresponding 5-year relative survival rates were: 98.3% for localized; 83.5% for regional; 23.3% for distant; and 57.7% for unstaged.

If one estimates the 2004 -2006 figures it means that 1 in eight women will be diagnosed as having breast cancer at some point in their lives. On January 1, 2006, there were approximately 2,533,193 women alive who had a history of breast cancer. This figure comprises those that have active and those that were in remission.

In conclusion one in eight get cancer and two thirds of these are in the primary stages. Nearly ninety percent will celebrate the five year boundary. In general these figures are less bleak than they would first appear and there are definite grounds for optimism if you have been diagnosed with breast cancer this year.

Soy Estrogens - Are They a Protection Against Breast Cancer?

Posted: 11 Sep 2009 08:55 AM PDT

The Chinese say that breast cancer is a rich woman's disease and indeed there is a very small incidence of it in China and Japan. Families in both countries eat a diet rich in soybeans and tofu. The health benefits of soy are in isoflavones which are a class of plant estrogen found in a high concentration in soy. In particular genistein occurs in soy products such as tofu, soy protein isolates, soy flour and some estrogen dietary supplements.

The reason that genistein has come under medical scrutiny is the fact that it activates estrogen receptors in cells, including some types of breast tumor cells. Unfortunately clinical trials have been ambiguous, and in some cases extremely contradictory. Some concluded that female rats fed on genistein prior to puberty reduced the number of chemically induced mammary tumors. Other studies showed that estradiol, the primary human estrogen, encouraged the growth of existing estrogen-dependent breast tumors.

University of Illinois food science and human nutrition professor William Helferich, demonstrated that similar to estradiol dietary genistein stimulates the growth of estrogen responsive tumors and dietary genistein interfered with treatments, such as tamoxifen, that target estrogen receptors in breast tumors. As over two thirds of women with breast cancer have estrogen-responsive tumors, this has serious repercussions.

Helferich concluded that the difference was the timing exposure to genistein, an estrogen, before puberty causes mammary gland differentiation. Once a dell has become differentiated it is less prolific and less likely to develop cancer. However, if the estrogen is administered to an animal after the development of an estrogen-responsive tumor, the growth of this tumor will be stimulated.

This also has serious repercussions many women in their early to mid fifties are ingesting genistein and other isoflavones in supplements daily. They are marketed as a safe and natural alternative to the big bad HRT products, they are deemed so safe that they are more often than not sold without a doctor's knowledge or prescription and yet women over fifty have an increased risk of developing breast cancer.

Helferich concluded that purified genistein is not as potent as HRT, it can be just as dangerous because it is often taken in higher quantities. To compound matters the components are not strictly regulated and can differ between batches. Genistein is only one component of the complete bean, whole soy beans have a wide variety of ingredients that are biologically active and they may have a cumulative effect which means that eating the whole can have a different effect from eating a small supplemental part.

All of this means that the sum of the nutrients in the whole bean is greater than that of the original parts combined; it is far cheaper to add whole soy beans to casseroles stews and soups than take expensive nutrient supplements.

Diabetes, Breast Cancer and Metabolism - The Current Position

Posted: 11 Sep 2009 07:38 AM PDT

As the level of obesity has risen exponentially in the Western World so has the incidence of insulin resistance and type two diabetes. There appears to be a link between obesity and post menopausal women and breast cancer, but that link is hard to prove as the risk factors for both are similar, a sedentary lifestyle, a high intake of refined carbohydrates such as white sugar, white bread and white pasta and a high level of fats and obesity.

The metabolic link between diabetes and obesity is there but the role of breast cancer and metabolism has only recently studies in September 2007. Statistically, the increase in this kind of cancer has been steady since the 1930s until the present day, except data from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER), the incidence of breast cancer dropped from 2001 to 2003 by 4.8% annually.

It was presumed that this fall was a result of an increased awareness of the need for women to have mammograms and also a corresponding reduction in the amount of women undergoing HRT. In 1980, 5.8 million Americans were diabetic ( middle aged diabetics) while that figure has soared to nearly fifteen million by 2005.

Since the 1950s, women with breast cancer have had higher rates of diabetes than do healthy women in the same age group. Seven studies have found a strong association between cancer and diabetes in women after the menopause yet there has been no strong evidence that there is a link in pre menopausal women. This link is strong enough to suggest that diabetes can lead to breast cancer.

In the study by Weiderpass et al in 1997 diabetes was assessed at baseline, and the subsequent relative risk for breast cancer diagnosed after five to nine years, but it found that the risk was no higher than in the one to four year periods. Michels et al 2003 found an increase in the incidence of cancer after fifteen years in diabetic patients. However the study was only small because of the gap of fifteen years. Some doctors believe that insulin concentration drop in the later stages of type 2 diabetes ad this may cause the increased risk to shrink over time and not get worse. A statistically significant positive association between diabetes mellitus and the risk of cancer remained in only three case studies over twenty years.

Although the overall mortality rate for breast cancer has decreased in the past 15 years because of earlier diagnosis and better drugs, diabetes has been linked to increased mortality from breast cancer. Coughlin et al followed 1.2 million US men and women twice a year from 1982 to 1988 and found that women with diabetes were more likely to die from breast cancer than were women not diagnosed with diabetes. Similar studies in Italy have supported the claim that there is a direct causal relationship between diabetes and cancer and that diabetes also accelerated the growth of tumors and made it less likely that women would get to a five year survival rate.
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