Breast self-examination – The best defence against breast cancer!

Breast cancer (cancer of breast tissue), is the most common form of cancer in women, affecting one out of eleven women at some stage of their life, in the developed world. It is expected to cause some 41,000 deaths in the United States, this year, and the number has been steadily increasing since 1970’s, due to the changes in our lifestyle. Breast cancer is a potential killer and early detection is vital to increase the chances of survival.

Breast self-examination helps in detecting breast cancer early, when it is more treatable and women should check their breasts regularly for any changes in size, shape, lump, tenderness or nipple discharge and consult a healthcare professional, if they find anything unusual with their breasts.

This video explains how to conduct breast self-examination and how to detect unusual changes in the breasts.

Note: This video could be inappropriate to some viewers (under the age of 13)

Too much of alcohol doubles the risk of breast cancer!

Women, who drink the equivalent of roughly two bottles of wine over a weekend more than double their risk of breast cancer, say Danish researchers.

A study of 17,647 nurses found twice the risk of breast cancer in women who drank 22-27 drinks a week compared with those who drank one to three drinks.

The risk was greatest when drinks were consumed in a short period, reported the European Journal of Public Health. Experts said women should try and limit the amount of alcohol they drank.

Women in the study were aged over 44, and most drank a moderate amount of alcohol. A drink was classed as a bottle of a glass of wine or spirit, which in Denmark is roughly 12g of alcohol. .

More than a quarter of the women drank more than the recommended 14 drinks a week. One in 10 were week-day binge drinkers, having more than four drinks a day and 13% were weekend binge drinkers, defined as more than 10 drinks between Friday and Sunday.

There was a 2% increased risk of breast cancer for each additional drink consumed, but at weekends there was a 4% increased risk with each additional drink.

The researchers said this was because more drinks were likely to be consumed in a weekend drinking session.

Drinking 22-27 drinks over the course of the week was linked to a 130% increased risk. Those who drank excessively on just one day during the week increased their risk by 55%.

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