Controllable Risk Factors
A risk factor is anything that affects your chance of getting a disease, such as cancer. But having a risk factor, or even many, does not mean that you’re definitely going to get the disease. While you can’t change some breast cancer risk factors—family history and aging, for example—there are plenty of risk factors that you can control.
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The risk of breast cancer rises significantly with consumption of more than five alcoholic drinks per week to an increased risk of developing breast cancer.
Body fat makes estrogen, which increases the risk of breast cancer. Overweight and obese people are also more prone to diabetes. If diabetes is poorly controlled, it can also contribute to increased breast cancer risk.
Regular, aerobic exercise reduces breast cancer risk. The American Cancer Society recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity each week (or a combination), preferably spread throughout the week.
Hormone therapy with estrogen (often combined with progesterone) has been used for many years to help relieve symptoms of menopause and help prevent osteoporosis (weakening of the bones). You should consult with a physician to determine if a specific bioidentical hormone product will affect your breast cancer risk.
Some studies suggest that breastfeeding may slightly lower breast cancer risk.
The explanation for this possible effect may be that breastfeeding reduces a woman’s total number of lifetime menstrual cycles (the same as starting menstrual periods at a later age or going through early menopause,) which reduces her estrogen exposure.
Women who have not had children or who had their first child after age 30 have a slightly higher breast cancer risk overall because they have had exposure to estrogen over a longer period of time. Having many pregnancies or becoming pregnant at an early age reduces breast cancer risk because of an overall shorter amount of time of estrogen exposure.