What You Need to Know about Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is a risk for every woman, and the rates of new diagnoses continues to rise—especially among younger women. Family history, genetic factors, lifestyle, and health status can all contribute to an increased risk of developing breast cancer. These factors can also influence how aggressive the disease can be if you do get diagnosed.

Breast Cancer Treatment Options  

Conventional preventive measures for breast cancer, depending on your risks, include invasive treatments like prophylactic mastectomy, and even “preventative chemotherapy.” The immediate and long-term side effects of these preventive treatments can be physically and emotionally devastating. 

The good news is, there are researched natural solutions that can actively defend against breast cancer and help prevent it from developing, even if you have a family history or other genetic risks. These supportive measures can also help promote recovery if you have an active breast cancer diagnosis.  

Nature provides powerful plant-based compounds and phytochemicals that promote healthy genetic expression—so your genes can work for you… rather than against you. Researched botanicals and nutrients optimize your body’s cellular regulation, repair, and defense mechanisms, and can prevent or reverse cellular damage that can lead to cancer. They also enhance your immune system’s ability to recognize and address abnormal cancer cells, before they form a tumor. Together, these natural ingredients provide a proactive way to safeguard your breast health, and your long-term wellness.  

Breast Cancer Statistics  

In 2022, it’s estimated that more than 287,800 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, and around 51,400 women with non-invasive breast cancer. That will add nearly 340,000 women to the 3.8 million women living with breast cancer in the U.S alone.¹ 

But there is good news: The survival rates for breast cancer are increasing, thanks to earlier detection and improvements in diagnosis and treatment. Nevertheless, this disease still claims too many lives. Preventing and treating breast cancer with targeted lifestyle and dietary interventions gives us additional strategies that can improve our outcome against this all-too-common condition.

The 5 Primary Types of Breast Cancer 

Breast cancer can manifest comes as different types of cancer, and each type needs to be addressed in different ways.²

1. Estrogen Receptor (ER) Positive breast cancer: Estrogen causes the cancer to grow, so blocking or reducing estrogen is a common strategy to help stop this cancer 

2. Progesterone Receptor (PR) Positive breast cancer: Progesterone causes the cancer to grow, so blocking or reducing progesterone can help stop this cancer 

3. HER-2 Positive breast cancer: Cancer cells have extra copies of a gene that makes a protein called HER-2, which causes the cancer to grow more quickly, so shutting down HER-2 can help stop this cancer 

4. Triple Negative breast cancer (ER, PR, and HER-2 negative): This cancer is more aggressive and doesn’t respond to hormones or HER-2, so it is more difficult to treat  

5. Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) – This rare form of breast cancer involves cells that block lymph vessels to the breasts, causing them to become inflamed and swollen 

Family History and Breast Cancer Risk 

The biggest family history risks are when straight-line close blood relative, like your mother or sister, have breast cancer. If you have one close relative with breast cancer, you’re risk doubles. Two close relatives, and your risk level increases by 500%.³  

Other factors that can increase your risk of breast cancer include: 

• A secondary relative like an aunt or cousin with breast cancer 
• Hormonal birth control 
• Exposure to xenoestrogens and other hormone disrupting chemicals 
• Being over age 50 
• Menstruation before age 12 
• A gene mutation like BRCA 

BRCA the Breast Cancer Gene

Everyone has BRCA genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2) whose job is to repair damaged DNA. Mutations in BRACA genes increase your risks of developing breast cancer⁴, with BRCA1 mutation-related cancers typically being more aggressive triple negative cancers. 

Experts recommend that women with breast cancer family history take a simple BRCA mutation blood or saliva test. If you decide to take the test and if your results are positive, all that means is that your DNA repair system may not perform well, putting you at an increased risk for cancer. But it doesn’t mean that you will get breast cancer. 

Still, getting a positive result may feel terrifying, bringing on depression and anxiety.⁵ In fact, for most women, hearing that they’re BRCA-positive triggers the same emotional reactions to getting a cancer diagnosis.⁶ 

But knowing the facts can empower you to better handle those test results. Because the most important thing to remember is this: Not everyone with the BRCA mutation gets cancer. And even having the mutation doesn’t tell you whether or when you might get breast cancer.  

The bottom line is, your genes are not your destiny. In fact, it’s estimated that fewer than 10% of breast cancer cases are caused by genetics alone. You can change your outcome even with a BRCA mutation or family history. You can support your body’s ability to successfully repair cellular DNA despite these genetic issues. And you don’t have to accept the standard prevention recommendations – chemotherapy and surgery – that absolutely cause physical and emotional damage. 

The High Cost of Standard Prevention Options

While you might expect preventive chemotherapy or surgery to be 100% effective in preventing cancer, they’re not. Even women who undergo both to avoid breast cancer can still get it. And the preventive surgery often includes removal of both breasts and both ovaries, which can have devastating emotional effects. 

Remember, a BRCA mutations doesn’t guarantee that you will get cancer. So these harsh preventive measures could be unnecessary… but that won’t erase the harm they cause. 

Another common recommendation: increased screenings like mammograms and MRIs. Both of those frequently deliver false results – negative and positive – that can throw your life off course. And getting hit with mammography radiation extra often can fuel BRCA-related cancers since radiation causes DNA damage.⁷ 

Consider a safer screening option: Thermography. You probably won’t hear about this option from your doctor because it’s not widely accepted… yet. But it offers you a safe, painless, non-invasive, radiation-free way to detect changes in your breasts.⁸ 

How does it work? Thermography uses infrared imaging to record different temperatures in breast tissue, sort of like a heat map. When tumors hijack extra blood supply, they raise the body temperature around them. Thermography tracks those temperature changes. 

Research shows that thermography can correctly identify breast cancer with 92% probability compared to 85% accuracy for mammography.⁸ 

There are no guarantees that these standard options won’t cause long-term harm. 

However, when you choose natural options that unlock your body’s own DNA natural repair kit, you can help to actively defend against cancer while supporting your long-term health in the process.  

Researched Natural Formula for Breast Cancer Treatment and Prevention

As an integrative physician specializing in cancer, I saw the need for a targeted breast cancer formula that could address key aspects of breast cell function and gene expression. After years of research, I developed a opens in a new windowcomprehensive formula that is shown now in four published studies to actively support against breast cancer formation and metastasis.  

This botanical-nutrient formula contains 8 powerful clinically studied natural ingredients including botanical extracts, medicinal mushrooms, and DIM that work together to provide broad-spectrum benefits for breast cellular health and function:  

• Regulate breast cell signaling and replication 
• Support healthy gene expression specific to breast cancer  
• Remove excess estrogens and unhealthy xenoestrogens 
• Reduce metastatic potential 
• Support optimal immune and inflammation responses 

Breast Formula Research Highlights 

opens in a new windowFour published peer-reviewed studies demonstrate how this targeted breast health formula delivers powerful support to help treat and prevent breast cancer:  

1. Enhances the Effects of Tamoxifen⁹ 

Tamoxifen is a commonly used hormonal treatment for breast cancer patients. When studied in combination with this breast health formula, results showed that the anti-cancer effects of tamoxifen were increased, because cancer cells were sensitive to the drug treatment. 

2. Prevents Breast to Lung Metastasis¹⁰ 

An animal study showed that this breast formula substantially reduced the spread of breast cancer to the lungs.  

3. Slows Aggressive Breast Cancer Cell Growth and Migration¹¹ 

In a lab study, the formula took on highly aggressive breast cancer cells known as MDA-MB-231, in a model of triple negative breast cancer. The formula showed the ability to: 

• Decrease the cancer cells’ ability to stick together and form tumors 
• Prevent cancer cells from spreading to other areas 
• Reduce their invasiveness  

4. Works Synergistically with Modified Citrus Pectin¹² 

When combined with clinically studied opens in a new windowmodified citrus pectin (MCP), the formula’s effectiveness increases by up to 40%. The combination further prevented cellular migration, stopping the cancer cells from traveling throughout the body. 

This formula’s proven effectiveness can be attributed to the synergistic combination of 8 well-studied natural ingredients:    

1. DIM (3,3′-diindolylmethane) 

2. Curcumin 

3. Astragalus root 

4. Turkey Tail mushroom (Trametes versicolor) 

5. Reishi mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) 

6. Meshima mushroom (Phellinus linteus) 

7. Quercetin 

8. Scutellaria barbata (Chinese skullcap) 

Each of these antioxidant-rich ingredients delivers significant breast cell protection. And when they work together, their benefits are maximized to keep your breast health over the long term. 

This powerful breast health formula not only helps defend your breast health, it also works to boost your total-body health and well-being, with a targeted combination of powerful ingredients that work at the cellular and genetic levels to support and safeguard your breast health and overall wellness. 

 

Sources: 
 1. Siegel RL, Miller KD, Fuchs HE, Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2022. CA Cancer J Clin. 2022 Jan;72(1):7-33.  

2.  Sun YS, Zhao Z, Yang ZN, et al. Risk Factors and Preventions of Breast Cancer. Int J Biol Sci. 2017;13(11):1387-1397.  

3. Brewer HR, Jones ME, Schoemaker MJ, et al. Family history and risk of breast cancer: an analysis accounting for family structure. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2017 Aug;165(1):193-200.  

4. Brand H, Speiser D, Besch L, Roseman J, Kendel F. Making Sense of a Health Threat: Illness Representations, Coping, and Psychological Distress among BRCA1/2 Mutation Carriers. Genes (Basel). 2021 May 14;12(5):741.  

5. Metcalfe KA, et al. Predictors of long-term cancer-related distress among female BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers without a cancer diagnosis: an international analysis. Br J Cancer. 2020 Jul;123(2):268-274.  

6. Pijpe A, Andrieu N, Easton DF, et al. Exposure to diagnostic radiation and risk of breast cancer among carriers of BRCA1/2 mutations: Retrospective cohort study (GENE-RAD-RISK). BMJ 2012; 345:e5660. 

7. Singh D, Singh AK. Role of image thermography in early breast cancer detection- Past, present and future. Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 2020 Jan;183:105074.  

8. Kolarić D, Herceg Z, Nola IA, et al. Thermography–a feasible method for screening breast cancer? Coll Antropol. 2013 Jun;37(2):583-8.  

9. Cheng S, Castillo V, Welty M, et al. BreastDefend enhances effect of tamoxifen in estrogen receptor-positive human breast cancer in vitro and in vivo. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017;17(1):115.  

10. Jiang J, Thyagarajan-Sahu A, Loganathan J, et al. BreastDefend™ prevents breast-to-lung cancer metastases in an orthotopic animal model of triple-negative human breast cancer. Oncol Rep. 2012;28(4):1139-1145.  

11. Jiang J, Wojnowski R, Jedinak A, Sliva D. Suppression of proliferation and invasive behavior of human metastatic breast cancer cells by dietary supplement BreastDefend. Integr Cancer Ther. 2011 Jun;10(2):192-200.  

12. Jiang J, Eliaz I, Sliva D. Synergistic and additive effects of modified citrus pectin with two polybotanical compounds, in the suppression of invasive behavior of human breast and prostate cancer cells. Integr Cancer Ther. 2013 Mar;12(2):145-52.