A nutritious, low-fat diet (30 grams or less) with plenty of fruits and green and orange vegetables can help reduce the risk of developing breast cancer. A high-fat diet increases the risk because fat triggers estrogen production that can fuel tumor growth.
Smoking is a confirmed risk factor for many types of cancer. Recent research in the last year (2012) has confirmed that smoking is a contributing risk factor for developing breast cancer. Additionally, second hand smoke is also a risk factor for cancer. So if you are a smoker, help yourself in a significant way and join a smoking cessation program to help you stop. The day you stop smoking the healing can begin and each week in which you are smoke-free, you give yourself increasing advantages for a healthier life. Smoking also directly contributes to heart and other lung diseases, too.
Single cancer cells can break away from an established tumour, to spead locally or they may enter the bloodstream or lymph system, and be carried to a distant site, where they can take root and grow as a secondary tumour. They can also spread across body cavities.
It is often said: about 200. However, as we discover more about cancer this is a simplistic answer. Scientists are increasingly finding more and more variants within one cancer site meaning that different types within one type behave differently and require different treatment.
Radiation therapy uses high energy X-rays to damage the DNA of the tumor cells, thereby preventing them from dividing, growing and spreading. During radiation therapy, normal cells are damaged as well. However, normal cells are better able to repair this radiation damage. In order to give normal cells time to heal and to reduce a patient's side effects, radiation treatments are typically given in small daily doses, five days a week, over a six- or seven-week period.
