Does diet really matter in breast cancer?

SelenaWolf

As elimar said, I don't think any of us were saying that good nutrition has no value.  We're just questioning why some women who practice good nutrition and have a healthy lifestyle STILL get breast cancer.  That said, my MO told me that my otherwise excellent health and fitness level helped me get through treatment as well as I did.  Nutrition can play a part in lowering risk for many diseases and is just a good idea overall, but - in and of itself - does not always protect you from developing cancer.  Cancer is too complex a disease with too many risk factors involved.

And, as elimar said, there is no cure.  The best we can hope for is to catch it early enough to stop it in its tracks or achieve remission.  There is no magic pill.  There is no magic diet.  There is no magic preventative.  We can't stop it from developing- or recurring because no one really understands all the processes that contribute to its development.  Until the day that science can say, "... this is how breast cancer develops ...", we will not be able to stop it.  And we are only fooling ourselves if we think otherwise or let someone convince us otherwise.

purple32

'That said, my MO told me that my otherwise excellent health and fitness level helped me get through treatment as well as I did.'

Very true, selenawolf!
Some of us with health issues are unable to take hormonals without increased risk to already thin bones or  blood clot or stroke risk.,  Checking in healthy is always a big bonus some seem to take for granted  ( NOT saying you do)  even now !

Boobytrap

I'll throw in my humble thoughts. I too struggle with why I got this and have to deduce it was in some way genetic, as my mum has breast cancer, though she didn't get it until she was 60 and I'm only 44. The geneticist says probably not a strong link though. However, I exercise daily and intensely (I've competed in Ironman triathlons) and I'm a dietitian!!!! So, my diet is pretty darn good. I do think that if I didn't have this lifestyle I might have developed this earlier, but I still can't come to terms with seeing morbidly obese women, happily smoking and eating junk food, yet being comparatively healthy. I have considered stress as a contributor, as I emigrated 17 months ago, but then I reckon something was happening with my breasts before then as I repeatedly saw doctors with breast pain and was told nothing was wrong. I even wondered whether it was the lavender oil I uesd for some burns. You could drive yourself mad with this.......and I very nearly have. So back to diet. Yes obesity increases risk of recurrence. Physical activity seems to decrease it. Then there are various foods that might have small, additive beneficial effects. So for example, I eat walnuts now, as good. But I won't bother with parsley which is also good, but I hate. I guess one of the other things with diet is also it gives you a sense of control over the disease, a bit like a lucky charm or placebo effect. And placebos can actually be quite effective!!!

LtotheK

Just want to throw back out there that even with weight management, there's no one size fits all.  So many things are quite the opposite of popular opinion on BC care for those under 40. So important not to make any of the same assumptions about pre and post-menopausal breast cancer, even about food and weight.  They just don't have it figured out.

This one was particularly bizarre: http://ww5.komen.org/breastcancer/overweightweightgain.html

Weight gain and breast cancer risk

Although being overweight seems to lower breast cancer risk in premenopausal women, weight gain should be avoided. Most breast cancers occur after menopause, and any weight you gain before menopause you will likely carry into your postmenopausal years.

elimar86861

Good point, LtotheK, that even the weight directive may be different for different groups of women

I don't know what to make of that article.  It reads like "get up to your final weight by age 18, even if it is overweight, then don't gain."  I was still growing (height) at age 18, and I am sure I did put on 20 lbs. after that age.  Looks like I did something wrong again.  Maybe it protected me thru' the early years, but I did get B/C in the peri-menopausal years. 

There's no way to really extrapolate from the article, guess I'll have to read the studies to really understand.  I say this because, for me, that extra weight came off in my 30's, and for years have held steady on the thin side of "normal weight."  I have no idea how the risk would balance out.  Early heaviness, later thinness...so many little things that can add to the risk, and me without the giant brain to figure all those little algorithms out.  Oh, wait, no one's really gotten to the bottom of it yet, have they?

cp418

elimar - don't bother trying to figure it out.  I swear they recycle many diet and exercise articles during the summer months when they run out of news articles.  Summer months very slow for pharma companies especially those with European affiliates taking 4-6 week vacations.  The pace goes faster into fall months when heading into year end deadlines.

Claire_in_Seattle

This article might be of interest as it covers a lot of this discussion from observational studies.  One thing we don't know is the effect of alcohol on women taking Tamoxifen or AIs as this study was dated 2004.  So we don't know if alcohol increases risk in women taking estrogen blockers.  From this literature, exercise has a major impact, and diet relatively little.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC468678/

There is a later study by Michelle Holmes that says much the same thing.  There is also evidence that wine consumption does not affect overall mortality, as reduces the risk of heart disease.  Believe it or not, that is the big one most of us need to be worried about.  I would add diabetes as that is what got my father and made the last years of his life miserable.  It was totally preventable and related to sudden inactivity after years of being a dairy farmer.

I agree that being fit makes treatment a lot easier as you are strong enough to withstand the hammering.  I also didn't worry particularly about my heart with Adriamycin.

I like fruits and vegetables, but also dairy and meat.  I think I still eat more protein than prior to treatment.  I worry that some women aren't eating enough protein to recover, as I found I needed it long after active treatment was over.  I think my energy reserves are still down a bit, as find I need energy gels during endurance events such as the 76 miles I cycled on Sunday. Or perhaps, I discovered that bonking really isn't fun?

(I ate an extra lunch yesterday too.)

I am struck when I look in the fridges of some of my friends.  I see beer, wine, catsup, and Lean Cuisine in the freezer.  Prepared dried foods in the larder.  I have berries, a lot of frozen pork chops from the pork loin sale, elk, milk, butter, free range eggs in different colors, leftover farro and chard, wine, beets, potatoes, lettuce, kale, snap peas, asparagus, and melon.  Plus condiments. I have olive oil and baking ingredients plus rice and dried fruit/nuts.

I believe that I am cured, but even if that turns out not to be true, I still want to look fab and be able to do stuff such as walk, hike, swim, ski, and cycle. Plus wear great clothes and be on top of my game professionally. I don't think you can do these without eating a reasonable (note that I don't say "perfect") diet and getting a lot of exercise.

Plus, it's FUN to cycle up to the valet parking at the smartphone event I will be attending this evening (and ask them to "valet park my bicycle, please").  Speaking of "fun", that is the missing topic in this discussion.

Because that is what is so often missing in all our lives. - Claire

elimar86861

cp418,  My very first post was about the article you linked at top.  My one above was just refering to the article that LtotheK posted.  Just clarifying.

  

SelenaWolf

"...Speaking of "fun", that is the missing topic in this discussion..."

YES.

I am determined to see my diagnosis as a "wake up call".  Although I was healthy, fit and active, there were areas of my life that were problematic.  For a number of reasons too numerous to go into here, I was incredibly stressed and - despite my activity level - I wasn't coping well with the added anxiety.  It was taking a huge toll on my psyche, not to mention my life.  I remember telling my husband one day, that I had given up on being "happy"; I would be content with merely being "at peace".

Not anymore.

While being "at peace" is an important element in anyone's quality-of-life, I, also, want to be happy.  I am on a active hunt to capture joy.  I want to experience a "perfect moment" every day.  Last night, it was sitting in my garden with my husband and beloved 17-year-old cat, Malcolm and watching the fireflies dance.  The day before, it was catching sight of two, brilliantly-coloured dragonflies.  Last week, it was seeing my Princess Elizabeth climbing rose in full- and glorious bloom.  In a few days, it will be spending an evening with friends to celebrate Canada Day.  Next month, it will be helping celebrate my littlest nephew's first birthday.

And FUN.  I want fun.  I want to laugh until the tears roll down my face.  I want to brighten the lives of those I love.  I want to be outrageous and make other people laugh.  I want to grasp Life as hard as I can and ride it for all it's worth!  I want to live outside-the-box and push boundaries.  I want a GREAT BIG LIFE because I have learned, very painfully, that I just don't know when- and how it will be taken away from me.  Might be tomorrow.  Might be next week, next month, or next year.  Might not be until many years from now. 

But, until then, I want to LIVE.

Shayne

Love your post Selenawolf!  My sentiments EXACTLY!!  And Im sure for anyone, even without a cancer scare.  Nobody knows when their time is up.  Just because someone doesnt have cancer, doesnt mean they get to live to be 95.  I think of my life before cancer.....and I was living in this ignorant bliss.  Now thats been taken away from me.....and I get to live a more present, authentic life, in all areas.  Every day is precious.  Every day I have gratitude.  Everything matters.  I really believe diet does matter in bc.  I want my body to be strong again.  Healthy feels so good.  And it sets the tone for my entire family and even my friends.  

Im going to a funeral today for a friend who had cancer.  Another reminder to live my life to the fullest.   

SelenaWolf

@Shayne ... there are times when I so-o-o-o-o-o miss that wonderful, deceptive sense of ignorant bliss!  I have mourned it bitterly.  There are times when I would give my eye-teeth to go back that!!  I struggle, sometimes (despite my most ardent attempts not to), with my "new knowledge" about Life: that there are no guarantees; that it can be capricious and unfair; that bad things do, indeed, happen to good people and there's, often, not a damn thing to be done about it.  Trying to live my GREAT BIG LIFE does have a price. 

But I am determined to muscle my way through the uncertainty and anxiety, and make a concerted effort to embrace what I have been given.  I must.  Because, if I don't, I may as well give up now.  And I'm not a quitter.

Shayne

I hear you!  I struggle too.  Everyday is different.  But I do find, when I am present.....when I stop in those moments to marvel at life, the funny thing my cat does, my daughters smile, a sunrise, laughing with a friend.......thats living life BIG!  

I have a friend, much younger than me, who just went thru cervical cancer.  Her husband had Hodgkins when he was in his 20s.  They have 2 small children.  They live a very full life, and she is wise beyond her years!  I mean, she gives me advise!  And im 20 yrs older than her almost!!  I make an effort to surround myself with people like this - stay away from negativity and drama - and just bask in all that is good in my life.  Gratitude - even bigger than it ever was before.  

Sometimes I look at pictures of myself from last year.......and wish i could go back.  But maybe not - maybe now I have a chance to live an even fuller life.  Thats what I tell myself.  Most days I really believe it! 

SelenaWolf

I remember, back when I was first diagnosed and railing at "the beast", a very dear sister-friend (who had, recently, lost a beloved sister to lung cancer, had - successfully - been treated for cervical cancer, and who was nursing her father through the last stages of colon cancer) said that I shouldn't view cancer as the enemy; that cancer could be a "gift" if I let it.  My first response was revulsion.  Cancer?  A GIFT??  Are you frickin' INSANE?  She just smiled and said, "... don't close your mind to the idea..". 

Today, I still don't view cancer as "a gift".  I will never see cancer as "a gift".  But I do see some wisdom in what she said.  For example, there have, surprisingly, been a few, unexpected benefits to having endured chemotherapy.  I am, now, in menopause.  No more monthly breakouts; my skin hasn't been this clear since I was five years old.  No more PMS.  No more any-of-the-other-TMI-stuff-that-goes-with-being-premenopausal. 

And, paradoxically, I have no more migraines.  I have suffered from migraines/headaches since having a traumatic brain injury in 1991.  The migraines were cyclical in nature and were triggered by changes in the season, changes in the weather, you-name-it.  Every day, I had - at least - one headache.  Now... gone.  Vanished.  Poof.  I haven't had a migraine- or headache in a year.  It's bizarre, but I'll take it.  I haven't been this pain-free for nearly twenty years.

My life has changed in so many way and not all of it has been bad.  Cancer as "a gift"?  I still say, ARE YOU FRICKIN' INSANE?  But cancer as a means to live better, live well and LIVE BIG?  Absolutely.

Just last week, my beloved 17-year-old cat, Malcolm (aka His Supreme Majestic Orangeness) was diagnosed with moderate heart disease.  This was, in addition, to thyroid disease (for which he has been, successfully, treated for years) and age-related, moderate renal insufficiency.  Happily, he is asymptomatic and, surprisingly, his body is compensating very well.  He remains healthy (for a really, old guy), independent, active (he spent a wonderful, two hours hunting mice, moths and fireflies in the garden last night), and happy (right now, he's stretched out beside me with a paw on my leg and a smug look on his face), and my vet says that this can continue for quite a while.  But... he's getting old and I'm going to lose him sometime, probably sooner rather than later.  However, this morning, when he crawled into bed with me, I saw his wise, old eyes looking at me and felt his purr reverberating through his chest, and I thought, "... really perfect moment..." 

Life will never be forever no matter what the circumstances, but Life can be good.  I'll take it.  And so will he.

Claire_in_Seattle

Serena....  Thankyou for these posts.  Would love to see your rose.  I just got a July 4 invite for a front row view of the fireworks on Lake Union.  I am so excited.  Plus coming off a great week of fun stuff and work accomplishments.

Oddly enough, I got the message about living life to its fullest about ten years ago when suddenly everything was made into technicolor.  So have been capturing these moments ever since.  Even during chemo, I found many of those "perfect moments".

Made a wonderful dinner last night for a friend of mine.  Ragu Bolognese with elk and fresh morel mushrooms.  I had never made this sauce before and gave it the time it needed to cook.  Amazing.  Paired with a great cabernet and fresh local strawberries and cream for dessert.  I splurged for the real deal in noodles from Italy.  Worth every penny (and I think come out the same as if I had bought local fresh pasta, my other option).

One thing I make sure I do is visit new places, frequently by bicycle.  So the Columbia Basin last month, and the Mima Mounds just last Sunday.  Have my entry pass for the cycling trip to Vancouver BC (a literal "ticket to ride") in August.  OMG - just realize that I need to do my "three rose gardens" ride, which would be fun for tomorrow after the wedding I am attending in my church.

Then, I am planning a ride w/wine tasting for Monday.  One way to limit consumption as making sure it's about 8 miles back to the car on a bicycle!  (Otherwise, we may be napping in the garden of the Chateau St Michelle.)  So life is just amazing.

I am really looking forward to skiing this coming winter as couldn't do much last winter because of a very sore ankle.  I wouldn't have been able to hold a snowplow for those long downhills.  But expecting all to be fine by the time the snows come.  Forgot to mention hiking in the Cowiche Canyon which planning for the end of August.  So amazing things to do.

Plus, literally smell those roses. - Claire

Anonymous

Selena, Shayne and Claire, I LOVE your posts!!! How inspiring! I'm going out to enjoy the day today and meet up with a childhood friend I havent seen in over sixteen years. Big life moment! Hugs!