⏱ 2 Min Read
Reduce your breast cancer risk with these 3 steps
Words
Dr Liz O'Riordan interviewed by Eleni Stefanou
Updated on
13 Aug 2024
About the expert
Dr Liz O'Riordan is a former breast cancer surgeon who was forced to retire after her own breast cancer diagnosis. She has a doctorate in the molecular biology of cancer and is the author of The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer, published by Penguin Books.
1 in 7 women in the UK will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Here’s what you can do to minimise your risk.
The scary news is that cancer is on the rise in younger age groups. The reassuring news is that around 75% of women will survive their breast cancer for 10 years or more after diagnosis.
There are three things you can do to cut your risk of getting breast cancer by up to 30%:
Exercise five times a week
Cut back on alcohol
Eat a healthy, plant-based diet
1. Exercise
We should all be doing three aerobics sessions a week where our heart rate is up. We should also ideally be doing weight-based training, which you can do at home with lunges and push ups against the kitchen counter. Not only does this lower your risk of breast, bowel and lung cancer, it also lowers the risk of heart disease, which is what most women who survive breast cancer die from.
2. Diet
We should all be eating a healthy, plant-based diet with a range of fruits and vegetables and brown bread and brown pasta and limited red meat. It's boring, but this is the diet that reduces your risk of cancer.
The link between weight and breast cancer
This is hard to talk about, but being overweight or having more fat than muscle increases your risk of developing 13 cancers, including breast cancer. Because fat cells make oestrogen, extra fat cells lead to more oestrogen in the body, which can lead to the growth of hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers.
3. Alcohol & smoking
Alcohol is a chemical that causes cancer. You need to stick to the guidelines: 14 units a week, which is the equivalent of 6 pints of 4% beer or six 175ml glasses of wine. Every extra glass a day increases your risk of breast cancer.
Combining drinking with smoking can have a compounding effect because of the chemical interaction.