Joel Fuhrman - Eat To Live

Eat to Live 77

The Breast and Prostate Cancer Mystery Unraveled

So much has been written about the causes of breast cancer (there

are entire books devoted to the subject), yet women are still con-

fused. This section should not be skipped over by men. Men have

mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives they must help protect, and

the same factors that cause breast cancer cause prostate cancer. Men

with a family history of breast cancer have an increased risk of prostate

cancer, and women with a family history of prostate cancer have an

increased risk of breast cancer.^25 So there is a strong link between

these two hormonally sensitive cancers.

American women are now twice as likely to develop breast can-

cer as they were a century ago, and most of this increase has oc-

curred in the past fifty years. In spite of all the fear and publicity,

American women are still in the dark about what they can do to pro-

tea themselves, and researchers looking for a simple cause have met

with frustration. The reason is that breast cancer, like most cancers,

is multicausal. Considering a number of contributing faaors simulta-

neously is essential to understand the rapid climb in the incidence of

breast cancer in recent decades. We know much today about the

causes of breast cancer, and the good news is that genetics plays a mi-

nor role and the disease does not strike at random. The war against

breast cancer can be won.

Understanding the Factors Involved

in the Development of Cancer

Carcinogenesis, the process that leads to cancer, is believed to occur

in a series of steps. It is a multistage process that begins with precan-

cerous cellular damage that gradually proceeds to more malignant

changes. The first step is the development of cellular abnormalities,

which eventually leads to cancer. This usually occurs during adoles-

cence, and soon after puberty.^26 Remember that unhealthy child-

hood nutritional practices cause excessive sex hormone production

and early pathologic changes in the breast tissue that set the stage for

cancer many years later.

We know that puberty at an earlier age is a significant marker of

increased risk, and we know that there is overwhelming evidence

that ovarian hormones play a crucial role, at all stages, in the devel-

opment of breast cancer.^27 It is common knowledge among physi-