Pt.2: Phytoestrogens to Reduce the Risk of Breast Cancer

Synthetic hormone replacement therapy is known to increase the risk of breast cancer and interestingly the heights of breast cancer have decrease slightly since a lot of women have decided not to us. Also the hormones in the oral contraceptive peel increase the risk of breast cancer. According to the World Health Organization oral contraceptives are a class 1 carcinogen meaning they are a known cancer causer. This is joined formaldehyde and benzene, the same group of chemicals that are well known cancer causers.  Also the hormones made in your own body can either help reduce the risk of breast cancer or make you more likely to develop it. Progesterone deficiency is known to seriously amplify the risk of breast cancer; if you are deficient in progesterone you are 5 times more prone to developed premenopausal breast cancer than women who are not progesterone deficient. The two main female sex hormones are estrogen & progesterone; estrogen is mostly produced in the first half of the menstrual cycle and progesterone is mainly produced in the second part. Some possible symptoms of progesterone deficiency include things like heavy painful periods, fibroids, endometriosis, and mood swings before a period.

Polycystic ovarian syndrome; all women with polycystic ovarian syndrome don't have a sufficient amount of progesterone in their body and they have too much oestrogen in their body which is a big risk factor for breast cancer. So it is vitally important that your work on balancing your hormones and make sure that you do have enough progesterone to reduce the risk of breast cancer.

You can also reduce the risk of breast cancer by making sure you have plenty of phytoestrogens in your eating habits. Phytoestrogens are plant oestrogens that are found in foods such as nuts, seeds, legumes, and lentils. The plants oestrogens actually have the ability to attach to the estrogen receptors in the breast cells but they have a gentle effect to help defend your breast cells from more authoritative and potentially harmful estrogen, either estrogen made in your own body or the oestrogen like chemicals found in the environment.

Flaxseeds are a great source of phytoestrogens, but in order to absorb the phytoestrogens from flaxseeds they will have to be ground. So simply eating whole flaxseed either in bread or muesli bars will not give you the benefit in eating the entire seed will not be enough to give you the benefits needed, you need to grind the flaxseeds if possible at home in a coffee grinder. Grind small amounts at a time and consume them quickly. You can add them in cereal, a smoothie, or over chopped fruit. It is also important to make sure that you are not over weight and that you don't have high blood sugar. A lot people don't associate being overweight with an increased risk of cancer, but it does increase your risk of all types of cancer including breast cancer. Some of the reasons are if you are overweight some of your fat cell are going to be making estrogen which will increase your level of estrogen which could amplify your risk of cancer. Also overweight people, mainly if they have too much weight around their stomach area tend to have higher insulin than slim people and insulin can fuel the growth of tumors. Whenever we eat sugar or high carbohydrate foods such as rice, potatoes, bread, breakfast cereal, or pasta all those foods make your pancreas release insulin and your liver release insulin like growth factor one. If you eat a lot of those foods regularly you are going to have high levels of those two hormones. If there are any cancerous cells in your body insulin and insulin like growth factor one act like fertilizers which help promote the growth of tumors.