I don’t drink or smoke, eat well and have plenty of exercise with my little boys and dogs! I think there must be a collection of various events/genetics etc to lead to the BC starting, I don’t feel I did anything “wrong” to get BC and am following all the medical advice/treatments given to me to ensure it is blasted out of my system hopefully for good. I want to see my children grow up! I hope there is much more research funded to make sure future generations see less of BC than we are! xxxTina
I have decided to stop drinking diet coke as that was the only “bad” thing i ever did, so i decided that had caused my bc. My oncologist giggled when i told him this and said he would let all the researchers know to stop spending time and money on breats cancer research and instead just tell everyone to stop drinking diet coke! I got his point, but i still won’t touch it…
Re msmolly’s comment about oestrogen in the water supply, this article suggests it is an issue. I’m afraid I would be deeply cynical of the water industry’s reassurances.
I would never dream of eschewing conventional treatment, but I do believe diet has a very significant part to play in preventing cancer, and in preventing recurrence. I believe very little cancer is genetic, and environmental factors are largely to blame - and are the only explanation for the dramatic rise in cancers in the developed world in the last 50 years. The problem is that what we all consider to be a healthy balanced diet could well be a very toxic diet as far as cancer is concerned. And as it is believed that cancer can take up to 40 years to develop, we may have to look back at what we were all eating in the days before organic food was widely available, and we all happily drank milk full of chemicals and fruit covered in dangerous pesticides.
I thought I ate healthily, but until I was diagnosed and started reading as much as I could about it, I had no idea about health at a cellular level and the importance of things like Omega 6 and 3 balance, and the dangers of IGF. I have recently read the very well known Anti Cancer book by Servan-Schreiber, and will be following his advice as closely as possible. I don’t think it will cure me - but I do think it will support the conventional treatments and help me fight the cancer.
I’m totally with you on that Finty. We may have thought we were eating well but as you say who knows what chemicals etc were in the food chain.
There are much tighter regulations on all sorts of things. For example I remember when I was child that lead paint was still being used. I heard somewhere that those born in the 60s and 70s probably were exposed to more chemicals and toxins that any generation in recent history (except obviously those exposed in the war) - don’t know if that’s true or not.
We use an incredible amount of chemicals in every day life and it’s only since my diagnosis last year that I’ve become truly aware of it. I think I’d like to give my body the best chance by reducing that chemical load where possible. Some things we have no control over but where I can I will try.
Elinda x
forgive me if I sound dumb but what is IGF please 
mel xx
IGF is Insulin-like Growth Factor - I’ll find a link for you.
Thanks finty.
mel xx
Melly here’s a start:
IGF is present in dairy products and has a strong association with increased risk of breast cancer. This together with the low incidence of breast cancer in non-dairy eating countries has led many people, myself included, to give up dairy products completely.
finty - The article on oestrogen in the waster is interesting reading but it is produced by a company selling bottled water. It is also pretty old (1996) and it would be interesting to know whether any developments have been made since this was written.
Ann x
finty - Regarding the US article on IGF, I don’t think we have a problem in the UK:-
cancerhelp.org.uk/about-cancer/cancer-questions/can-the-hormones-in-milk-affect-breast-cancer
Frankly, you can find something on the internet to support or refute any argument on any topic and I think one must be careful to find the source and age of the information in order to be able to judge its importance.
Ann x
I’d just like to point out that milk from the UK and Europe doesn’t have high IGF levels as the artifical hormone given to cows that results in high IGF has been banned in Europe. If you want to avoid high IGF levels in dairy then you need to avoid dairy products imported from the US where cows are still injected with growth hormone to increase their milk supply.
Link here:- cancerhelp.org.uk/about-cancer/cancer-questions/can-the-hormones-in-milk-affect-breast-cancer
HTH
Lol, snap! Matching links, Ann!
HTH - Yes, that is just what I was saying but I think we both posted at the same time.
Ann
… and again!!!
Breast cancer has increased in the past 25 years or so, and it is at its highest in UK and USA and lowest in Africa and India. Ok, so maybe the developing countries dont use pesticides or eat processed foods or drink milk and that is why their incidence is much lower. However, much more likely is that they dont take the Pill or HRT, they have their babies much younger than we do generally, they have lots of children, so pregnant most of their young lives which has a known protective element, they are not obese, they are active and they probably dont drink much alcohol. So, all these factors have to be considered, not just the dietary ones.
European dairy does not have the artificially boosted levels of IGF1 that US products treated with rBGH do, but IGF1 and IGF2 occur naturally in all milk products.
Cathy - I am sure hormone therapies are also a factor. But HRT would not explain the rise in breast cancer among pre-menopausal women, and the effect of the pill is generally accounted for in the comparisons.
Interestingly many Asian women eating a traditional diet have no need for HRT because they don’t have any symptoms.
(Edit for typo)
Ann - if you didn’t like the previous one, try this link re water supply:
Or this one:
independent.co.uk/environment/male-fertility-fears-over-pollution-in-water-supply-654356.html
Cathy I agree with the points you make about women in India, China and elsewhere in terms of known risk factors. However, it’s plausible too that rates of bc in many parts of Asia are woefully undiagnosed (and then un- or undertreated due to economic reasons) so the published statistics won’t be a reliable index of the part diet can play.
<<sits down to mug of green tea and bowl of cherries and hopes to fight on for a few more decades !>>