Health and Wellness
Pink October
Pink is everywhere! October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month and thanks to the ongoing efforts of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® organization, most everyone knows what a pink ribbon means. Since it's inception in 1982, the organization has invested nearly $1.5 billion towards awareness, research and support. Thanks in large amount to the Susan G. Komen® global initiatives, breast cancer is being detected earlier and improved treatment options continue to be developed.
Unfortunately, we still do not know what causes one person to get breast cancer while one does not. Your age, family history (genetics), health history, and diet all contribute to the risk of breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society breast cancer is the most common cancer among U.S. women, other than skin cancer and is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer. The chance of a woman having invasive breast cancer some time during her life is a little less than 1 in 8 while the chance of dying from breast cancer is about 1 in 35. These rates are improving, though, and most likely due to the results from early detection and better treatment. Right now there are more than 2½ million breast cancer survivors in the United States alone.
Reducing Your Risk
Living a healthy lifestyle can help lower your risk. Lifestyle choices to lower your risk include:
- maintain a healthy weight
- exercise regularly
- reduce alcohol consumption
Some things that increase your risk, such as genetics, you cannot change. However, it's important to know your family history and discuss it with your doctor so that appropriate screening can be arranged. Through screening breast cancer can be detected early on, leading to more effective treatment options.
September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in woman ages 35 to 74. Each year approximately 22,000 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer and about 15,000 women will die from the disease. Early detection is the key to increased survival from this deadly disease. Because symptoms are subtle and easily confused with other conditions, it's often difficult to detect. However, in cases where ovarian cancer is detected before it has spread beyond the ovaries, 9 out of 10 women will survive more than 5 years. But that's with early detection and only 19 percent of ovarian cancer cases in the United States are diagnosed early.