Most people, and many doctors, don’t know how long it takes a cancer cell to grow into a full fledged tumor. The general impression is that cancer just shows up, or may be takes a few months to a year to develop. The reality is that from the time of initiation of a cancer cell to its diagnosis as cancer 15 to 20 years may have passed. This lag time is shorter in leukemias and longer in solid tumors – up to 30 years, in prostate cancer.

During its long period of latency, the tiny breast cancer is influenced by many factors. Some of these are promoters of growth and spread, and the others tend to inhibit or kill the cancer cells. If we understand these factors, we can manipulate them to snuff out very small cancers in early stages or, at least slow their growth. Keeping aBreast explains how these factors work and how to manipulate them to our advantage, and in simple terms. Besides, it provides strategies that can prevent even the first malignant cell from appearing, in other words reduce the initiation of cancer.

Some estrogens can stimulate breast cancer and others inhibit it. We can use estrogens in ways that can emphasize the inhibitory side and reduce the stimulatory effects. Natural progesterone is inhibitory to breast cancer cells, unlike the pharmaceutical progestin, which have resulted in higher risks of breast cancer. A recent study of 54,000 French women showed that menopausal women who took pharmaceutical progestin had a 40% increase in breast cancer, but those who were given natural progesterone had a 10% decrease in this cancer. A Swiss study of 23,000 women who took mostly natural estrogens [estradiol and estriol] rather than the artificial horse estrogens used in the United States, had a 25% reduction in death rate from breast cancer. Other hormones such as testosterone, DHEA, thyroid, melatonin, oxytonin and growth hormone have different effects on breast cancer, which are explained, so we know how to manipulate these hormones to reduce the risk.

Keeping aBreast explains how proper exercise decreases the risk of breast cancer by 30%; the seven ways in which excess body fat promotes breast cancer, the fact that all dietary fats are not equal and how to choose your fats. It explains the effects of alcohol, vegetables, fruits, vitamins and minerals on breast cancer. It offers supplements that can decrease the risk of this disease. Our supermarket food, cooking styles, industry, household toxins, can all increase the risk. We need to know what and how to avoid. Keeping aBreast goes into the explicit detail of these and many other factors that have a bearing on the occurrence of this much dreaded disease. It provides guidelines to women according to age, genetic risks and other factors, which are practical and easy to follow.