Surprising ways to protect your family from breast cancer

What causes breast cancer? Anyone who has been diagnosed with the disease, or watched a friend or family member deal with it, wants to know.

Research has taught us that many widely understood risk factors play a role, including our genetic makeup and whether or not we've had kids or breast-fed. But these risk factors don't explain it all. A substantial body of scientific evidence indicates that exposures to common chemicals and radiation, alone and in combination, may contribute to the unacceptably high incidence of breast cancer.

Not only are exposures to particular chemicals and mixtures important, but the timing of these exposures may be critical. Breast tissue is particularly sensitive to the detrimental effects of environmental toxins while it is developing (from prenatal stages through the time that a woman gives birth and breastfeeds). The cancer usually doesn’t show up until adulthood, but the stage may well have been set in the womb or early in childhood.

What can we do? This feature will help you identify some known and suspected breast cancer risk factors. Some of these tips apply mostly to middle-aged or older adults -- both women and men -- who are at the age when diagnosis is most common. Other tips will help parents protect their children, even in the womb.

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Avoid (most) canned foods

Bisphenol A, a chemical which is known to mimic hormones and which has been linked to an increased risk for breast cancer and other diseases, is found in the epoxy resin liner of most canned fruits and vegetables.

The BPA from this lining has been shown to leach into the vegetables in the can. Studies have found that the amount leached is enough to cause breast cancer cells to grow and proliferate in the lab.

One company that makes BPA-free canned beans is Eden Organic, showing that the technology exists to make cans for most fruits and vegetables without using BPA-contaminated products.

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Getty Images)

Stay away from dry-cleaning chemicals

Studies on Cape Cod have indicated that women who have been exposed to perchloroethylene (also called PCE or PERC) through their water sources have an increased risk for breast cancer (PDF).

PERC, the most common chemical used at dry-cleaning shops, accumulates in our body fat and may therefore remain in our bodies for long periods of time.

To decrease your exposure to PERC, cut back on the amount of clothing you send to the dry cleaner. Find out about the materials your clothes are made of and see if dry-cleaning is really necessary. Many fabrics that say "dry clean only" don't absolutely require it.

If you need to use a professional cleaner, try to find one that uses a different process such as wet-cleaning, liquid CO2, or silicone. Note however, that there is considerable controversy over how much safer some of these alternative process really are.

If you get your clothes dry cleaned, be sure to remove the plastic packaging from your clothes and air them out, preferably outside of your home.

Also avoid spot removers or carpet cleaners that contain PCE.

(Photo: iStockPhoto)

Don't drink water from plastic

Using tap water rather than bottled water is important for both our health and for the health of our environment. If taste is an issue, filtered tap water is a solution.

Commercial water bottles often are made from plastics that leach chemicals like Bisphenol A. Leaching of chemicals from plastic bottles is particularly common when the plastic bottles are warm, as can happen when bottles sit in the sun.

If you are using a plastic bottle and the water or other fluid inside it smells "plasticky," don’t drink it! Your nose is telling you good information about the presence of contaminants in the water.

Tap water is often as safe or safer than bottled water because public water sources are closely monitored and the results of quality testing on these waters are available to the public. Similar testing and disclosure are not required for bottled water.

To take water on the go, invest in a cheap, high-quality stainless steel water bottle or another reusable BPA-free water bottle.

(Photo: Alina Solovyova-Vincent /
iStockPhoto)

Eat soy (but not too much)

Plant estrogens, also called phytoestrogens, are natural compounds found in many foods. There are two main groups: the isoflavones and the lignans. Isoflavones, which include genistein, are found in soy beans. Phytoestrogens are strikingly similar in chemical structure to the common estrogen estradiol and and can mimic many of the effects of the natural hormone.

Most research on health effects of phytoestrogens, including effects on breast cancer risk, has been done on soy products and genistein. Most (but not all) studies suggest that regular intake of soy, as a well-integrated component of a regular diet (as opposed to a dietary supplement like a pill), may be protective against breast cancer.

However, studies examining the effects of ingesting high levels of soy supplements (e.g., genistein pills or isoflavone protein extracts) suggest that this may lead to changes that increase the risk of breast cancer.

So eat a healthy, balanced diet that is rich in vegetables including soy products. Introduce your children to soy products (soy flour, tofu, etc.) early in their development, as part of their regular diet. But stay away from concentrated or isolated forms of soy derivatives, including genistein pills.

(Photo: Dave White / iStockPhoto)

Choose (truly) microwave-safe containers

Despite the label on many plastic containers claiming that they are "microwave-safe," it's prudent to use either glass or ceramic bowls for heating foods in a microwave oven.

Heating plastics can make chemicals used in their manufacturing leach into your food. Even so-called "microwave-safe" containers have been shown to leach Bisphenol A (BPA).

Laboratory studies with rats indicate that exposures to BPA, especially during prenatal through early adolescence, predispose an individual to increased risk for developing breast cancer.

Most supermarkets now sell Pyrex or other glass food-storage containers that are easy to heat and allow you to freeze, thaw, and heat (in oven or microwave) food safely. These containers can be reused for years.

When you do microwave your food, cover it with a piece of kitchen parchment paper or other non-dyed, non-bleached paper product. Or just put a ceramic plate on top as a cover.

(Photo: Grant V. Faint /
Getty Images)

Eat clean fish

Intake of certain foods that may contain high levels of PCBs and dioxins should be limited, especially for pregnant women and children. Both are known carcinogens that have been linked with increased risk for breast cancer.

If eating locally caught fish, eat smaller varieties such as bluegill, pumpkinseed, stream trout, smelt, and yellow perch. Limit consumption of fish that are fattier (and more likely to accumulate PCBs) like lake trout or fish that are bottom-dwellers like catfish.

Consult fish advisories published by the Environmental Protection Agency or state health and wildlife agencies before eating fish caught in local waters. Before heading to the fish counter, consult nonprofit groups that monitor contaminant levels in fish.

Some farmed salmon and sea bass have been shown to have particularly high levels of PCBs; choose wild fish for these varieties.

In general, careful preparation and cooking can reduce the amount of PCBs consumed. Fillet fish by removing as much fat as possible. Also cook using methods such as baking or broiling in a pan with a rack, rather than frying -- frying may actually seal some of the toxic chemicals within the remaining fat of the fish, while other methods may ease the cooking-off of natural fats, leading to the dripping out of accumulated chemicals.

(Photo Illustration:
Gloria Dawson / iStockPhoto)

Use natural cleaners

Many household cleaning products, including chlorine bleach, contain chemicals that may be detrimental to our health.

Unfortunately, there is very little regulatory oversight of cleaning products, and many are very poorly labeled. Many household cleaning products contain endocrine disrupting chemicals, which mimic hormones and have been implicated in increased risk for breast cancer and other health problems.

For many household tasks, simple baking soda (a gentle abrasive) or diluted warm vinegar works as well if not better than potentially toxic alternatives. For other suggestions, see these guides at the Environmental Risks and Breast Cancer project and The Daily Green.

(Photo: Matteo Natale / iStockPhoto)

Keep your distance from car emissions

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (known as PAHs) are products of incineration found in air pollution, vehicle exhaust, tobacco, smoke, and grilled foods.

Exposures to PAHs, especially from vehicle exhaust and gasoline fumes, have been linked with increased incidence of breast cancer in both women and men.

A recent study in western New York examined air-monitoring records from 1959 to 1997 to establish PAH levels in residential areas. This case-control study of 3,200 women (ages 35 to 79 years) concluded that exposures to high levels of PAHs either at the time of their first menstrual period or at the time they first gave birth were associated with an increased risk of post-menopausal breast cancer decades later.

When purchasing a car, especially a used one, make sure that the emissions system meets or exceeds government standards. In particular, check that the computer system controlling the car’s emissions is fully functional and that the catalytic converter works properly.

And, of course, don’t smoke! And avoid being close to others who are smoking; second-hand smoke is a major source of PAHs.

Finally, PAHs are also found in the char of heavily grilled meats and fish. So when grilling, use a slower roast method and scrape off any char that results from cooking.

More breast cancer prevention tips

See more breast cancer risk factors, including radiation from medical scans, cadmium in batteries, phthalates in older toys, unlisted ingredients in cosmetics and sunscreens, and chemicals in many pesticides and weed killers.

The Daily Green recently invited Janet Gray, a professor at Vassar College and a board member of the Breast Cancer Fund, to share simple tips that can help reduce breast cancer risk factors. Gray developed the Environmental Risks and Breast Cancer project to communicate known and suspected environmental breast cancer risk factors to the general public. For all of her tips, see How to Prevent Breast Cancer: 20 Risk Factors.

More from The Daily Green

• How to Prevent Breast Cancer: 20 Risk Factors
• 12 Ways to Keep Your Kids Safe From Chemicals
• How to Purify Air in Your Home: 25 Tips
• The Dirty Dozen: 12 Foods to Eat Organic
• The Clean 15: Foods With Low Pesticide Residue

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