6 things you can do to prevent breast cancer
One in seven women hears it: breast cancer. Fortunately, 90 percent now survive the first five years after diagnosis, but still, 3000 women die from breast cancer every year. You can't prevent it, but you can make that damn breast cancer a little scared by doing something yourself.
1. Prevent overweight
That doesn't mean we all have to be size 36, body positivity is a great thing, but obesity is a dangerous epidemic that causes many diseases. So take the BMI test and make sure you stay in the green.
2. Have your first child young
That's easier said than done, but statistically, it appears that women who become mothers at a young age and breastfeed for a long time have a lower chance of breast cancer. Among Muslim women, breast cancer occurs much less often because they often have children at a younger age, often have more children, and do not drink alcohol. That brings me to the next point.
3. Alcohol
I always thought that alcohol in combination with the pill was so dangerous (and thus conveniently stopped taking the pill), but it is mainly the alcohol that is the culprit. Alcohol is even more dangerous regarding breast cancer than smoking.
4. Smoking
Of course, that's not good at all. Not good for anything, really. So stop it. It also makes you old and wrinkly.
5. Test yourself after your menstruation.
Then your breasts are usually the calmest. It's always good to test at a fixed time in your cycle so that your baseline is constant.
Then I had a pressing question, and that is why we are only examined for breast cancer in the Netherlands from the age of fifty. I got a clear answer to that. Breast cancer is most common in women between 50 and 75, and before your fiftieth, there are many milk glands in your breasts that produce a milky, white spot/blur during a scan, making it difficult to see a tumor.
So until your fiftieth, it's a matter of regularly (but not too often, just once a month) examining yourself. Arms up, looking at breasts and nipples, and going over the breast in a tapping motion.
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