Avastin, a cancer drug that was a hopeful for breast cancer treatment when it got in its more advanced stages, is apparently showing promise for another type of female cancer.  Ovarian cancer patients saw about four months added to the time it usually takes for ovarian cancer to progress into very serious territory.

Basically, the drug may not actually save lives, but may extend them further beyond what they currently span when ovarian cancer reaches the point of no return, so to speak.  Because of this though, it may have further implications in treating various female types of cancer on the market, and may be studied further to see if it has any therapeutic benefit.

In a seemingly converse twist, the women who paired Avastin with the other cancer therapies they were on for their ovarian cancer in the study did not live any longer than the women that did not take Avastin in addition.  This begs the question, why even bother with the additional drug if it did not, as an end result, extend the actual lives of the women?

Not to mention, what should really be looked at with these drugs is whether they are extending the life, or the progression of the disease while also increasing the quality of life?  If they are not, and they are merely extending an existence of pain and suffering, then one must ask, is this really right?

If you recall, we discussed Avastin not too long ago as it related to breast cancer treatment. The FDA recently revoked its previous approval for complementary breast cancer treatment due to significant health risks.

These health risks imposed on women who had avanced breast cancer were simply not worth the less than stellar results the drug had on extending their lives.  The risks had to do with perforations found in the intestines that were linked to the drug which could potentially be life threatening, and add yet another health problem onto women already beleagured with health issues stemming from the cancer and all the medications they are on – all of which have serious side effects.

As you can tell, I take a fairly mistrustful stance on many medical establishment status quos when it comes to medications and treatments for such serious ailments as cancer. I think it takes a very critical eye to really figure out what works, and what is really forced on us as being the only potential treatment for these cancers, which scare the heck out of people.

I’ve heard so many women, including friends, coworkers and family members who have had a scare with breast cancer. It seems like the older you get, the more likely you are to have one, and more women I know who are past fifty have had a scare at one point or another.

A “scare” can range anywhere from simply feeling something you feel might be a lump, bump or mass in the vicinity of the breast, to you going in, having the doctor feel something or see something, and having to get it biopsied. Neither one feels too good, and you feel anxious until it is proven to be a false alarm.

I actually had a scare a couple years ago myself, and I’m only in my mid thirties now.  I had this small hard bump that I started to notice just because I was running my hands over that part for something. I thought to myself it could just be an odd part of my sternum sticking up that I just hadn’t noticed before, because quite frankly that’s what it felt like it could be – bone.

But then I started to get in my head about it, and started to wonder if it really was something. I even had my then-boyfriend, now-husband feel it so see what he thought. It was not even really on my breasts at all, but higher up on my chest, so I couldn’t tell if I was just being crazy about it or not.

So, rather safe than sorry, I ended up going to the Doctor I always see for things like this where I work, which is really convenient and I thank my lucky stars I have that.  She concluded that it was simply my sternum, but she was glad that I came in to have her check it out because she said often times women don’t do that because they think they’re imagining it or that it could never happen to them.

As a woman from a family with breast cancer in the female side, I really wanted to use precaution over my pride, so I’m glad I went. In the end, all I was out was a little worry, and a small copay

It is easy to think that mammograms save lives when so many women espouse their belief that the mammogram saved their life because it detected their breast cancer much earlier on than say a self breast exam would have.

But I just read a very interesting perspective from another specialist who says that mammograms may not actually save as many lives from breast cancer metastatis as you would think – when you look at it his way at least.

Keep an open mind, I’m sure this is just the beginning of our understandings of this potentially deadly disease, and we are only now beginning to crack the codes on various types of cancer to begin with.

One perspective is that mammograms do detect breast cancer very early, however, many of these extremely early detections may actually be for breast cancers that are not very agressive, are very slow growing, and may have never come to a point where they would be life threatening.

In other words, many women may carry the seeds for potential breast cancer, but the cancer cells in their breasts are so slow growing that they likely would not be a threat to their lives.  His take is that these very early detections of non-agressive cancer cells may actually lead to unnecessary treatment as well as unnecessary biopsies and partial masectomies in women as well.

In other words, perhaps women are being scared into getting therapies that, themselves are dangerous to our health such as chemotherapy and radiation, when they are told they have very early breast cancer.  They may be getting these treatments, which can lead to other health issues, when in fact their breast cancer would likely have never grown out of control or ever even become symptomatic.

However, many consider that  big “if”.  It’s a very controversial view of course, but if you take a step back and really examine it, it has a lot of valid points and if you keep an open mind it is definitely something to contemplate and consider.

While there are several types of foods you can eat to help sustain and enhance the health of your breasts and to help avoid the likelihood of breast cancer in every lifestyle way you can (there is always a genetic component unfortunately in this type of cancer), there are also several types of foods to avoid or severely minimize in your daily diet if you can help it.

These foods are the biggest contributors to what many consider carcinogenic factors in the diet.  They have usually been proven in one way or another to help trigger abnormal cell growth, irritate the cells in certain areas of the body, or simply have DNA mutating capabilities that should be cautioned against.

Foods to Avoid if You Want Healthy Breasts :

1.)  Anything in cans or any processed foods. Canned foods contain a lining with BPA, or bisphenol A, a chemical that is used in plastic linings. You should especially avoid canned tomatoes, as the acidity in the tomatoes leeches this dangerous chemical into your food even more.  Bisphenol A is linked to hormonal disruption and unsafe increases in synthetic estrogens.

2.)  Microwave popcorn – This handy food may seem healthy, especially if it is of the light variety, but it actually gives off toxic chemicals and is not safe when consumed in high qualities according to some health experts.

3.)  French fries and other cooked potatoes.  Potato chips, french fries and other potato-based foods that are cooked at extremely high temperatures give off a chemical called acilymide. This chemical has shown carcinogenic properties.

4.)  Transfats – Avoid any food rich in transfats as these are not good for your tissues, including breast tissue. Avoid anything with ingredients that say partially hydrogenated. This means that the fats used in the product are transfats, a cheaper version of fat that is used to increase shelf life of products and to increase the flavor.

5.)  Sugars. Sugar has been shown to increase cancer cell growth. It is essentially a fuel for many types of cancer as it promotes inflammation and also promotes spikes and drops in the blood sugar, which can promote cancer.

6.)  Saturated fats.  These types of fats have been shown to increase the likelihood not only of heart trouble, but also are linked to increased risk of several types of cancer.  Unsaturated fats, such as the kind found in almonds, walnuts, fish, and grass fed beef, are healthy, and should be consumed.

The breast cancer drug often used as a last resort called “Avastin” has finally been formally recalled by the FDA. The FDA had previously approved the drug for breast cancer that was not responding to other more conventional treatments.  It has now come to the conclusion that Avastin presents too many other health risks, and presents no clearly definable extension of life in breast cancer patients to remain on the market as an option.

This is not without the protest of some patients who have lobbied for the drug to stay on the market, thinking that it may be another option to women who have run out of other alternatives and for whom nothing else that is typically used is working any more.

The side effects that are not acceptable for which the FDA has revoked approval of the drug are high blood pressure, increased risk of heart attack, serious bleeding, and holes in the heart and the intestines. Yikes, that is some pretty serious stuff if you ask me!  It got me wondering why some are still lobbying to keep the drug alive and well.

The FDA claims that there was no proof the drug even helped to delay or stop the growth of breast cancer tumors. Which begs the question of why the drug was ever on the market in the first place.  But then I realized that the drug is actually used in several other types of cancer successfully.

It was probably allowed for the treatment of advanced breast cancer since it was already being used with some success in other types of cancer.  Sometimes, once a drug is regularly being used, problems simply make themselves apparent. Look at Vioxx, the painkiller drug that resulted in heart problems, and other medications like Phen Fen which slowly showed to be deadly.

Huh? Wait what?  That was how I looked at the headline that suggested that drinking alcohol, something that has long been linked to increasing the risk of developing breast cancer in women, may actually help to prevent the spread of the deadly disease.

I though I was either reading it incorrectly or that it may be one of those cleverly titled misleading news items that really wasn’t what it seemed at all when you really started to read the substance of it.   But no, it really did mean just that. Alcohol apparently helps to stop the spreading of breast cancer, once a woman has already gotten it though.

That’s the rub here. Women who already have active breast cancer are the only ones who may actually benefit from drinking alcohol. It has shown promise as helping to halt the metastatis (spreading) of cancerous cells.  However, the link between women developing breast cancer and drinking alcohol still stands.

It sounds like some very illogical reasoning if you ask me, but I’m not the scientist and I guess we’ll just have to leave that up to the lab men and women who come up with these intresting findings. Then again, this theory may soon be proven wrong, as so many are eventually about this hot topic.

The study on alcohol and breast cancer was carried out on mice. Often times studies are carried out on this animal because they have some physiological similarities to the human body, and they are very useful for determining how the human body might react to similar situations, although they are not 100% reliabel and alike.

The mice that had breast cancer tumors were given small amounts of alcohol. The other group of mice had the breast cancer tumors and were not given the servings of alcohol. The mice who got the alcohol actually showed that their breast cancer growth was slowing down or stopping whereas the non-alcoholic group did not show any benefit.

The alcohol-mice were showing about a 60% reduction in the spread as compared to the other group, so it’s not small potatoes either. Still baffling is why alcohol would be a causal factor for getting breast cancer, but may help to halt its spread once it has initiated into the body.

The Mediterranean diet, as it has been termed, is really more of a common sense, all around healthful approach to eating than a diet to me. It only got its name because those that live in the Mediterranean have easier access to several of the foods on the diet, and a lot of the foods are heavily consumed by people in this geographic area.

However, a lot of people in the US have been eating these same foods for the past several decades – just maybe not at the same concentration as those in the notorious sea area.  So, this particular diet regimen has been linked to lower blood pressure, weight loss and an array of other health benefits.

These health benefits likely include improved breast health and prevention of breast cancer and also increased fertility – the latter being a recent finding on the diet.  The study was funded by Spain, and it found that women who follow a largely principled diet on this regimen by eating lots of fish, veggies and whole grains, are much less likely to have problems with fertility.

In other words, these women had much less of a problem with conception of a child.  Of course, if their partner was also on the same diet, they would have even greater chances of conceiving without any glitches.

The thought is that, among the other numerous health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, it helps to maintain healthy blood sugar levels. Healthy blood sugar levels make a woman and a man more fertile simply by producing an ideal environment for the conception of a child within the body.

This, combined with lower blood pressure, likely a lower body acidity and toxicity, and a healthier heart and other organs, makes for a much better environment more condusive to healthy sperm, healthy eggs, and healthy reproductive organs in the body of both a man and woman.

The health effects of this diet are still being studied. Of course, there are plenty of other diet regimens that are also healthy, but this one seems to still be one of the diets du jour that is getting lots of attention.  We’ll of course talk more about the health benefits for breast health of this diet as more comes out.

With the Fukushima disaster (which eerily has not been in the news for a long time for being such a disaster), many men and women were exposed to toxic levels of radioactive materials.  These radioactive materials can seep into the water supply, the ground and the produce that springs forth from the ground, making it lethal for years to come.

That’s the scary part – when we pollute our environment, the effects are often a lot longer lasting than we usually fancy. This is why organic produce that is certified is required to be in clean unpolluted ground for several years before it can be considered certified organic produce (thank God).

But the toxins we are surrounded with every day, even if no disaster, is quite scary as well.  For example, just the foods we eat and the products we use on our bodies, or that come into contact with our skin on a daily basis, can be toxic to our systems.

One such toxin that is pervasive still in many body care products are parabens. These are chemical preservatives that are used to extend the shelf life of consumer goods ranging from toothpaste and lotion to deodorants and shampoos.

The rub here is that they don’t just sit on the surface of the skin. They actually absorb into the skin and then enter the blood stream. Parabens are known endocrine disruptors. This means that they can interfere with the natural balance of female and male hormones in both men and women, causing a disruption in the natural balance of these important hormones.

They are found in abundance in both the urine and breast milk of women. These, along with other toxins found in scented products and other hygiene products are found in the bodily fluids. Phthalates are another common chemical that is used to stabilize scented products and haircolor and things of that nature.

DMDM is another chemical commonly found which is a derivative of formaldehyde, a highly toxic chemical.

Aluminum has even been found in women’s breast tissue when biopsied from women with breast cancer.  This lead to the infamous link between aluminum and breast cancer that had many women searching for safer alternatives to commercial aluminum-containing deodorant.

There are scores of other chemicals that can be found in the breast milk, too numerous to even list here. One of the ways you can help avoid toxin saturation like this is to use only all natural body care.  This way, you aren’t adding even more to your toxic load by simply trying to look and feel your best.

There have been two recent confirmations of something that has long bees suspected and used as a common sense prevention method against most types of cancer, including breast cancer. The first is to really limit your intake of alcohol.

The research on alcohol intake has been fairly mixed. Some studies suggest that those with drink moderately actually live longer and have less heart troubles. Some suggest that even moderate to light drinkers put themselves at a higher risk for cancer.

Now, newer research seems to be confirming that breast cancer at least, is more likely for those that are even light to moderate alcohol drinkers.  That means if you just have drinks a few nights a week and are very moderate with your habit, you still will increase your risk of breast cancer.

Of course the increase may be fairly small, but it is nonetheless there and cannot be ignored.  Light drinking, for purposes of this study, is about three drinks per week. Even this small amount of alcoholic beverage seems to increase the risk of breast cancer a small amount.  Moderate and hard drinking, of course, increases it even more.

Women who drink more than this amount have an increased risk of breast cancer of about 15% or more than non drinkers. If you drink more, you risk higher weight, potentially more heart health issues, diabetes, and all kinds of other health issues in addition to an increase in the risk for several different types of cancer, not just cancer of the breasts.

Sitting too much has been targeted as a major factor in not only the likelihood of getting certain types of cancer, but also in having heart and blood pressure problems, and of generally being a more sickly person all around. Sitting too much turns off our genes that help to keep us thin and lithe, active and energetic.

When these genes turn off, we gain weight and can become lethargic and more sickly.  Moving around and exercising is key to the reduction in cancer risk as well as for general longevity. Plus, you actually feel good about yourself and your life when you are getting regular exercise.

When it comes to most types of breast cancer, there is one fact that is pretty much undisputed. That fact is that excessive estrogens, especially those of a synthetic nature that did not originate in the female body itself, via its own natural processes, may actually accelerate breast cancer.

However, it is unknown specifically what types of hormones. For example, we now know that synthetic hormones in HRT, Hormone Replacement Therapy, can acccelerate breast cancer and even cause heart problems.  There has been no definitive link between hormones used in IVF, or In Vitro Fertilization, or birth control pills or drugs.

However, that doesn’t mean that they certainly are not under a cloud of suspicion by not only doctors, but natural health specialists, consumer advocates, and patients and informed consumers themselves.

The question was really brough to light when an anchor for a popular television show, Giuliana Rancic, was diagnosed with breast cancer and publicized it.  She also happened to be undergoing fertility treatments, and was only tested for breast cancer because her fertility doctor refused to put her on fertility hormones until he confirmed 100% that she did not have breast cancer.

She did not even think there was a chance she could have breast cancer since she’s still fairly young at age 36. Most women have the conventional thought process that they are not at risk for breast cancer until after they hit their forties and fifties.

The current conventional wisdom is that the risk goes up after age forty and the risk is very low for women under forty. However, there are instances where women can get breast cancer “younger”. Often times when diagnosed younger, it may be a more serious form of breast cancer.

However, the cases we’ve seen so far in the public spotlight haven’t been that way.  Cases like Christina Applegate and other younger actresses seemed to be resolved very quickly and were easily treatable. So it seems very unthreatening. But in reality, when younger women get breast cancer, it can be a real cause for concern.

Hormones that are given for medical purposes should be carefully considered, whether they are for birth control reasons or for some other reason like the control of menopausal symptoms.  The reason is, they can very well fuel breast cancer if it is already present, or they perhaps can even initiate the growth of breast cancer cells.

We just don’t know enough about them yet, so it’s best to play on the side of caution.