ZUMBA FOR BREAST CANCER/PARTY IN PINK was held this Saturday at Venetian Gardens and we had a fun time trying to keep up. Thankfully it was indoors. My sister, Cheryl, friends, Nicole and Amanda, participated and I was thankful for their taking the time out of their busy schedules for this good cause that benefits all of us women. Thanks to my sister who's been zumba-ing way over a year now, I've also now enjoyed making this a weekly part of my strident attempt to stay active and therefore healthier. It sure is a heck of a lot more fun than the old repetitious aerobics and is a great workout. Our zumba instructor uses upbeat Christian music as well as other music which uplifts my spirit at the same time which I appreciate.
TODAY WAS MY FIRST TIME BACK TO MY GYNECOLOGIST since he gave me my breast cancer diagnosis results August of last year. Once that happens you get handed off pretty quickly to breast surgeons, plastic surgeons and oncologists. I filled Dr. Hall in on the past year and was happy to tell him that I'm doing great, feeling better than I probably did before breast cancer, more active, eating better, taking supplements more diligently, etc. He thought my plastic surgeon did a good job. I guess he probably sees a lot of bad jobs too, so that was nice to hear.
UTERINE CANCER is a possible, yet rare, side effect from the Tamoxifen pill that I'll be taking for the next 5 years. This is due to a thickening of the uterine wall. There's no good screening for uterine cancer except a transvaginal ultrasound which he ordered. It was already time for my bi-annual pelvic ultrasound anyway, so I'll be taking care of that in the next few weeks. Dr. Hall assured me that he doesn't see uterine cancer as a result of Tamoxifen very often. From what I've been told, uterine cancer will affect 1 in 1000 women, and 2 in 1000 women on Tamoxifen, so just slightly higher. However, I've unfortunately met at least two women personally who did develop uterine cancer while on Tamoxifen. This is another one of those areas where I have to walk by faith, not by fear, doing the best I can.
Dr. Hall is very big into supplements and also adamant about finding out the chemical or metabolic reasons for our health issues - not just treating them with drugs. For example, if too much estrogen contributes to breast lumps, benign or malignant, he wants to know why my body is producing too much to begin with. I can't always follow him when he gets excited explaining the chemistry behind many of the things he prescribes, but I know he's very passionate about it. He believes, and I researched it and confirmed he was right on, that INSULIN is a leading contributor to breast cancer, not just estrogen as previously believed. So for women that are diabetic or even pre or borderline diabetic, breast cancer is a greater risk. It goes right back again to physical activity and diet. He prefers a low-glycemic diet. I'm attaching an article below that explains it further. This article focuses on breast cancer patients' survival rates, but I also read several other reputable articles about lowering insulin levels to PREVENT breast cancer. You might find it interesting.
Insulin Levels Found to Affect Breast Cancer Survival
Women treated for breast cancer who have elevated levels of circulating insulin face substantially higher mortality rates than their peers with lower levels, according to a new study authored by a Yale School of Public Health researcher. The research is published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Patients with amounts of an insulin marker known as C-peptide greater than 1.7 ng/mL were at a two-fold higher risk of breast cancer death compared with women with C-peptide levels lower than that. Women with type 2 diabetes had an even greater risk of breast cancer death compared with women without type 2 diabetes.
The findings suggest that treatment strategies that reduce C-peptide levels in women treated for breast cancer—which could include dietary-induced weight loss, increased physical activity and insulin-lowering medications—should be explored, according to Melinda L. Irwin, an associate professor at the School of Public Health, a member of Yale Cancer Center and the study’s lead author.
“There is growing evidence that weight and physical activity affect breast cancer outcomes, and our findings suggest that the mechanism linking lifestyle factors and breast cancer may be the insulin pathway,” Irwin said. “Our findings are timely in that therapeutic trials of insulin-lowering medications in women treated for breast cancer are being conducted. Previous research of ours conducted at Yale also showed that a daily brisk walking program decreased insulin levels. Women treated for breast cancer who are overweight or not currently exercising should definitely seek lifestyle counseling and/or talk with their physician about additional therapeutic options.”
Meanwhile, a separate research paper by Irwin that appears in the same issue of the journal found that overweight and obese breast cancer patients have lower levels of a crucial hormone called adiponectin that regulates several metabolic processes — which, in turn, decreases their chances of survival.
The finding is believed to be the first association between breast cancer survivorship and levels of adiponectin, a protein hormone that controls processes such as glucose regulation, the breakdown of fatty acids and energy intake. Levels of this hormone are related to body mass index, with overweight or obese breast cancer patients generally having lower levels of adiponectin and also elevated levels of insulin resistance (known as hyperinsulinemia).
The researchers followed 527 women from breast cancer diagnosis for an average of five years after diagnosis. A blood sample was collected every two years, as well as weight and height measurements and data on physical activity and diet to evaluate how lifestyle factors and hormones affect their breast cancer prognosis. They found that breast cancer patients who had higher levels of adiponectin survived longer.
Breast cancer patients can increase their adiponectin levels and lower their insulin levels markedly through behavioral and lifestyle interventions that promote physical activity and weight loss, Irwin said. Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven Hospital offers weight, diet and physical activity counseling for patients. Irwin is also currently recruiting women being treated for breast cancer into weight loss and exercise trials.
“Within the next couple of years, I hope the research continues to show a strong and clinically meaningful benefit of weight loss and exercise on cancer outcomes, and in turn will force second party payers/insurance companies to consider reimbursing for lifestyle counseling for cancer patients much like they do for patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” she said.
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