By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women but is not as threatening now as it used to be more than 30 years ago when I was in medical school. Then, a diagnosis of breast cancer was a death sentence. Then, medical science was saying that cancer was incurable- there could only be periods of remission. Now, we know that cancer can be treated. And studies show that breast cancer is one of the easiest to cure.
Usually, the first symptom of breast cancer is a painless lump in the breast and solitary. I repeat, a painless lump and just one small mass. Most people think that because it is painless and it is small, it is nothing. In some cases, breast cancer could be present if there is a bloody or watery nipple discharge or orange-peel look of the breast or retraction of the nipple.
Don’t panic, though, when you feel a lump in your breast. If you are still a teen-ager and just starting to menstruate, then that’s normal. We call that “menpitngil” in Kankanaey. Well, if you are male then that’s abnormal. If you are not menopausal yet, see if the lump appears before you menstruate and goes away after menstruation. If so, chances are that is not cancerous.
The easiest way to check if you have any lump or growth in your breast is you feel for it yourself. Medical science calls this “self-examination”. The breasts are accessible to your hands so this is easy. If you have been breastfeeding, this is even easier because the breast tissues are softer. The most practical way to do breast self-examination is as you take a bath. Start from the clavicle at the top and your armpit and work your way to the nipple, then from all the other sides. No need for especial gadgets, thank goodness. If you feel something is there that is not supposed to be there, have it checked by a health professional. Have at least two opinions.
But why wait for it to occur? Before, medical science (that which I was exposed to) was clueless as to what causes cancer or what the risk factors are. Now, with scientists learning about China, Japan, indigenous peoples like us and other cultures, the world knows that cancer can be prevented. Epidemiological studies show that breast cancer and other chronic degenerative diseases are much more common in developed countries than in less developed countries. Why? These studies also show that since the 1970s there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people developing breast cancer. Why? The answer to both is because of modern or western lifestyle, particularly western diet.
Extensive studies have been made on breast cancer and findings point to common risk factors as follows:
1. Early age of menarche (first menstruation)
2. Late age of menopause
3. High levels of female hormones in the blood
4. High blood cholesterol
Except for risk factor #4, these risk factors point to one thing– prolonged exposure and/or excess amounts of female hormones, including estrogen and progesterone, increases the risk of breast cancer. By the way, men can also develop breast cancer. They have breasts, too, you know, although not as elaborate as the women. It is the women who are designed to nurse the baby. God must have a reason why not both men and women ( although, theoretically, men can be coaxed into producing breastmilk.)
Looking again at the above risk factors for breast cancer, all four are related to nutrition or diet. How? Dr. T. Colin Campbell, in his comprehensive, empowering book The China Study, says that “a diet high in animal fats and refined carbohydrates lowers the age of menarche, raises the age of menopause, increases female hormones and increases blood cholesterol levels.” Animal fats are found in all animal products, of course – pork, chicken, beef, milk, cheese, eggs and all foods containing these. Even if you remove the visible fat. Even if the food is processed that you no longer see it as is. I think some people believe that the cholesterol and the hormones disappear when the egg and milk are mixed with flour and sugar and processed to become a cake. Well, think again. Unlike bacteria, cholesterol and hormones don’t disintegrate by cooking them. Unfortunately. Commercial eggs and cow’s milk and other dairy products contain cholesterol. Cholesterol is animal fat. Sugar and white flour are refined carbohydrates.
In the local scene, we see that young women now are having menses earlier. When we conducted focused group discussions in Mountain Province, we learned that women in the 1950s and earlier started menses at 15 to 17 years old. Now, with westernized diet, there are kids as young as 9 years old already starting to menstruate. This means an additional 6-8 years exposure to female hormones. And do you notice that more and more of our young girls are getting fat? Now, those are warning signs.
Cow’s milk contains a lot of estrogen, from the cow itself and from added estrogen that dairy farmers inject to the mama cows so they will produce more milk. People today are demanding so much more milk than dairy cows normally produce so the milk industry has to devise unnatural means to make these cows deliver. After giving birth, these poor mama cows have to be pumped so much by milk-extracting machines that their breasts develop mastitis. Unfortunately (again), government regulations do not require manufacturers to include hormone content in the milk, cheese and yogurt and chocolate labels.
How about the chemical eggs? I call these chemical eggs because, although they are produced by real hens, they produced it by themselves. No need for the rooster. How can this be? This is possible- with chemicals. These chemicals are female hormones, because it is female hormones which make egg production possible. At this point, you will see why even men can have breast cancer. They get all the extra female hormones as well- through food and drink. Think about this – halo-halo has milk, cookies have milk, cake has milk, ice cream has milk, chocolate has milk (except for our original Filipino tablea), yoghurt is fermented milk, cheese is from milk, cream is milk, cerelac has milk.
In The China Study book, Dr. Campbell cited an impressive research on young girls in 2003 (Dorgan, JF; Hunsberger S.A, McMahon RP, et.al) showing that “several female hormones…. were lowered by 20-30% (even 50% lower levels of progesterone) simply by having girls eight to ten years of age consume a modestly low-fat, low animal-based food diet for seven years.”
Professor Janet Plant, a scientist in the UK who had breast cancer, has written about her journey to healing entitled “Cure Breast Cancer by Avoiding All Milk Products.” (More next issue)**
