Two crazy causes of breast cancer?

EbonyEyes

I have a lump in my breast. Getting a biopsy in a few days, playing the waiting game now and going crazy! I heard two things recently and would like to know if there's any validity to either.

1) I'm a perfume fanatic, have worn it almost every day of my life since I was twelve(that's 51 years). Someone told me there is a link between perfume use and breast cancer. True? BTW, I've never worn a lot at a time, I'm not one of those women who drowns herself in it.

2) I heard on the radio there is a link between bc and French fries. Supposedly when potatoes are exposed to the high temps needed to fry them they produce cancer causing substances. The report went on to say doctors can diagnose who is going to get bc by the number of times a week they ate Frenchies. Any truth to this? I am not worried for myself -- never been a big potato fan -- but I have a niece who eats enormous amounts of French fries. About five times a week and she often eats a pound or more at a time.

vlnrph

There may be chemicals in some perfumes that, under certain circumstances, may promote abnormal cell growth. Lots of things in the environment both "natural" and manufactured have been linked to cancer but are difficult to avoid. Our own immune system, when healthy, probably kills most of the things that it recognizes as changed.

I would be more worried about a young woman's unbalanced diet than a specific item. High temperature grilling to the point of charring is a no-no so I suppose frying might fall into that category. Being overweight is a risk factor for many diseases. Push the (organic) fruits & vegetables then go out for a bike ride since exercise is an antidote.

Hopefully your biopsy is negative. Waiting for the answer is usually the worst time...

leggo

They're both valid. Potatoes (fried), heated beyond 120C forms acrylamide, which is a toxic carcinogen. Anything fried in canola, soybean, safflower, corn, and other seed and nut oils will do the same, not just potatoes. You've probably heard about the potato thing in particular because people want crispy fries and you have to crank up the heat to get them that way.

Perfume, usually cheaper ones, are chemically reproducing the odor produced by animal glands (civet cats for instance). Some of those "faked" odors are toxic. I don't think too many perfumers are using the natural substance anymore, making them kinda sketchy.

CAMommy

try not to drive yourself crazy, easier said than done I know. The odds are in your favor you are b9 and if you are not it is almost certainly nothing you did. The only absulote direct correlations I know of with cancer are smoking and lung cancer and sun with skin cancer. Everything else is really stabbing at the dark. Risk is a relative number, while eating French fries may raise your risk you need to know a) by how much and b) what was your risk to begin with. Say, for example, my risk for BC is 20% and eating French fries raises it 10%, it's now 22%. Not that big of an increases.