Breast Cancer Prevention Instead of hormones a lot of exercise

Hormone treatment increases the risk of breast cancer. Instead of additional hormones, women should move more during menopause.

21.01.2011

Up to 30 percent of breast cancer cases could be avoided if postmenopausal women do not take long-term hormone replacement therapy and instead are physically active. According to current research studies, herbal extracts may reduce symptoms during the menopause.

Hormone treatment to relieve symptoms during menopause
Hormone replacement therapy is often prescribed to women to balance the emotional and physical burden of menopause. By the hormone treatment complaints are to be alleviated by a changing endogenous hormone production. The only indicators that lead to hormone therapy from a medical perspective are postmenopausal symptoms, such as hot flushes or undersupply of the vaginal mucosa.

More exercise, less hormones
According to epidemiologists of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, in up to 30 percent of cases, breast cancer could be avoided if women take much less substitute hormone preparations and instead move more. A total of 10,000 women participated in the study. The experts at the Cancer Research Center found that hormone replacement therapy is the strongest risk factor for the development of breast cancer. Almost 20 percent of cases of invasive breast cancer after menopause were hormonal ingested. In patients who suffered from a hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, the morbidity rate was even around 25 percent.

As people age, people seem to move less and less. The lack of exercise, however, also adds up to the risk of developing breast cancer. The risk factor increases to 38 percent if both risk factors meet. Opposite the „Doctors newspaper“ said the cancer researcher Professor Jenny Chang-Claude of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) that the risk increases, the longer the hormone preparations are taken. Even a duration of two years shows a significant increase in breast cancer risk. Chang-Claude carried out the cancer research study together with the lecturer Karen Steindorf and Prof. Dieter Flesch-Janys from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.

Hormone treatment not a lifestyle product
In view of the results, the research team warns against a frivolous intake of the preparations. The benefits and risks of hormone treatment need to be carefully weighed up. Hormone replacement therapy should only be taken if symptoms are present. It should also be possible to refrain from a longer period of use. In no case should the hormone replacement therapy as a „Lifestyle drugs are considered "warned researcher Chang-Claude.

Increased breast cancer risk has been known for some time
However, the findings of the study are by no means new. For some time research has been able to provide evidence that a long-term hormone replacement therapy increases the risk of developing different cancers. In the summer of 2003, the „One Million Women Study“ for worldwide attention. The study monitored about 1 million women over a longer period of time. It was found that women who took longer-lasting hormone treatment, also suffered more often from breast cancer. Since then, the form of therapy has been controversial again and again. Advocates said hormone replacement therapy could even reduce the risk of dementia, as the circulation stimulates blood circulation. However, scientific studies revealed completely different results, even suggesting a slight increase in risk. In the United States in particular, hormone therapy is now marketed as a lifestyle drug by pharmaceutical manufacturers. The women are suggested that the intake of the drugs, for example, the skin remains tighter in old age. Although this alleged effect is already scientifically refuted, this argument continues to promote hormone therapy during menopause.

Overweight and alcohol consumption have only a slight influence
To reduce the risk of breast cancer, therefore, the cancer researchers recommend regular and active physical exercise. The study results showed that in addition to the hormone treatment, a lack of exercise increases the risk of cancer. Alcohol consumption and obesity, however, showed only a small influence on the disease risk. However, this does not mean that a reduction in obesity and alcohol consumption is negligible, as the DKFZ researcher emphasized. Chang-Claude suspects that obesity does not play a significant role in women in Germany, as in the United States. In the States, the women are significantly overweight, as in this country. If you move a lot, then you can bring a few extra pounds on the scales. The main thing is to be active.

Naturopathy during menopause
Naturopathy knows a whole range of herbal remedies that contain no estrogens. Research has shown that extracts of Cimicifuga extract help relieve symptoms of menopause. The effect of ethanolic Cimicifuga extracts is based on their influence on the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. The researcher med. Dana Seidlová-Wuttke from the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of the University of Göttingen was able to establish in a test set-up that the plant extracts reduce side effects associated with menopause. In addition, it was shown in an experiment that Cimicifuga extracts has a positive influence on the bones and therefore counteracts the dreaded bone loss (osteoporosis). (Sb)

Also read:
Breast cancer through hormone treatments
Teacher: Breast cancer as an occupational disease?
Drastic increase in cancers expected
Estrogen-free help with gynecological disorders
Naturopathy in menstrual pain