(BlackDoctor.org) -- A healthy lifestyle offers protection now. What changes can you make to reduce your breast cancer risk or ease your treatment? According to research or other evidence, the following self-care steps may be helpful:

What You Need To Know:

• Get a checkup
  See your healthcare professional once a year for a breast exam and mammogram to detect disease before it becomes advanced
  
• Cut back on cocktails, but not on nutrition
  Limit your alcohol consumption and take a multivitamin containing folic acid to reduce alcohol-related breast cancer risk
  
• Eat risk-reducing foods
  Add plenty of fiber, tomato products, soy products, and fish to your diet
  
• Prioritize exercise
  Maintain a regular exercise program throughout your life
  
• Seek support
  If you have breast cancer, join a weekly patients’ group for social support
  
• Mix in melatonin
  If you have breast cancer, take 20 mg of this hormone at night under medical supervision to possibly help shrink tumors and slow progression

These recommendations are not comprehensive and are not intended to replace the advice of your doctor or pharmacist. Continue reading the full breast cancer article for more in-depth, fully-referenced information on medicines, vitamins, herbs, and dietary and lifestyle changes that may be helpful.

Dietary changes that may be helpful
The following dietary changes have been studied in connection with breast cancer.

Avoidance of alcohol
An analysis of studies using the best available methodology found that women who drink alcohol have a higher risk of breast cancer compared with teetotalers. Alcohol consumption during early adulthood may be more of a risk factor than alcohol consumption at a later age.

Some, though not all, studies have reported that alcohol increases estrogen levels. Increased estrogen levels might explain the increase in risk.

In a preliminary report, drinkers with low intake of folic acid had a 32% increased risk of breast cancer compared with nondrinkers; however, the excess risk was only 5% in those drinkers who consumed adequate levels of folic acid. In the same report, women taking multivitamins containing folic acid and having at least 1.5 drinks per day had a 26% lower risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer compared with women drinking the same amount of alcohol but not taking folic acid-containing vitamins.

Fiber
Insoluble fiber from grains delays the onset of mammary (breast) cancer in animals. In an analysis of the data from many studies, people who eat relatively high amounts of whole grains were reported to be at low risk for breast cancer.

In some studies, the protective effect of fiber against the risk of breast cancer has been stronger in young women than in older women. This finding might occur because fiber has been reported to lower estrogen levels in premenopausal women but not in postmenopausal women. Other researchers, however, report that fiber appears to equally reduce the risk of breast cancer in women of all ages. One leading researcher has suggested the active components in fiber may be phytate and isoflavones, substances that may provide protection even in the absence of a decrease in estrogen levels. If these substances do protect against breast cancer, they might be as helpful in older women as in younger women.

Consuming a diet high in insoluble fiber is best achieved by switching from white rice to brown rice and from bakery goods made with white flour or mixed flours to 100% whole wheat bread, whole rye crackers, and whole grain pancake mixes. Refined white flour is generally listed on food packaging labels as “flour,”“enriched flour,”“unbleached flour,”“durum wheat,”“semolina,” or “white flour.” Breads containing only whole wheat are usually labeled “100% whole wheat.”

Vegetarianism
Compared with meat eaters, most, but not all, studies have found that vegetarians are less likely to be diagnosed with cancer. Vegetarians have also been shown to have stronger immune functioning, possibly explaining why vegetarians may be partially protected against cancer. Female vegetarians have been reported to have lower estrogen levels compared with meat-eating women, possibly explaining a lower incidence of breast cancer that has been reported in vegetarian women.

Fruits and vegetables
An analysis of  studies on breast cancer risk and diet found that high consumption of vegetables was associated with a 25% decreased risk of breast cancer compared with low consumption. The same report analyzed 12 studies that found high consumption of fruit was associated with a 6% reduction of breast cancer incidence compared with low consumption. However, when data from only the eight largest and best studies were combined, high intake of fruits and/or vegetables did not correlate with protection from breast cancer. Therefore, the protective effect of fruit and vegetable consumption against breast cancer remains unproven.

Tomatoes
Tomatoes contain lycopene—an antioxidant similar in structure to beta-carotene. Most lycopene in our diet comes from tomatoes, though traces of lycopene exist in other foods. Lycopene has been reported to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells in test tube research.

A review of published research found that higher intake of tomatoes or higher blood levels of lycopene correlated with a reduced risk of a variety of cancers in 57 of 72 studies. Findings in 35 of these studies were statistically significant. Evidence of a protective effect for tomato consumption was strongest for cancers other than breast cancer (prostate, lung, and stomach cancer), but some evidence of a protective effect also appeared for breast cancer.

Meat and how it is cooked
Most, but not all, studies show that consumption of meat is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. This association probably depends in part on how well the meat is cooked. Well-done meat contains more carcinogenic material than does lightly cooked meat. Evidence from preliminary studies shows that women who eat well-done meat have a high risk of breast cancer. Genetic factors may determine which women increase their risk of breast cancer by eating well-done meat.

Fish
Fish eaters have been reported to have a low risk of breast cancer. The omega-3 fatty acids found in fish are thought by some researchers to be the components of fish responsible for protection against cancer.

Coffee, unrelated to risk
Coffee drinking has been reported to increase breast pain associated with noncancerous lumps in the breast—a group of conditions commonly called fibrocystic breast disease. The presence of some forms of fibrocystic breast disease have been reported by some researchers to increase the risk of breast cancer. As a result of these separate findings, some women may be concerned coffee drinking might increase the risk of breast cancer. However, most research has shown that coffee drinkers are at no higher risk of breast cancer than are women who do not drink coffee.

Olive oil
Olive oil consumption has been associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer in several preliminary reports. Oleic acid, the main fatty acid found in olive oil, does not appear to be the cause of this protective effect, and scientists now gu