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Breast Cancer Myth Busters with Dr. Kimberly Brennan
Dr. Kimberly Brennan discusses how to reduce the risk of breast cancer and what food may or may not help when trying to do so.
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Learn more about Kimberly Brennan, DO
Kimberly Brennan, DO
Kimberly Brennan, DO interests include Breast cancer, gynecologic cancers, colon cancer, lung cancer and benign hematology.Learn more about Kimberly Brennan, DO
Transcription:
Alyne Ellis: Are you at risk for breast cancer, who has the highest risk? And what can you do to lower your chances here to tell us more as Dr. Kimberly Brennan, an Oncologist at the Mass General Cancer Center at Emerson Hospital. This is the Health Works Here Podcast from Emerson Hospital. I'm Alyne Ellis. Thanks so much Dr. Brennan for joining me today.
Dr. Brennan: You're welcome. I'm happy to be here.
Host: So first off, if you don't have a family history of breast cancer, can you still get it?
Dr. Brennan: You can, actually, most people diagnosed with breast cancer, have no known family history. Most of the people that we see have what's called a sporadic form of breast cancer. What we find is that only about five to 10% of people are the people who have a genetic form of breast cancer. When we do genetic testing, it's only about like I said, five to 10% that turn up and have a genetic mutation. And when we do genetic testing, there's certain criteria that we look for in order to trigger that testing. And for people who have breast cancer or are newly diagnosed with breast cancer or other cancers, you should talk to your doctor about whether or not you are somebody who should be tested. If you're somebody in the community who has a strong family history of breast cancer, but you don't have breast cancer yourself, you can ask your primary care doctor. If you're somebody who should get tested, things to look for are a strong family history of breast cancer, or somebody in your family with ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, a strong family history of prostate cancer. Anybody who's under the age of 45 with their first diagnosis of breast cancer or ovarian cancer, anybody who's had a breast cancer called triple negative breast cancer. And they were diagnosed under the age of 60. Anybody who's of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry and has had a diagnosis of cancer. There's lots of criteria that we look for. It's always best to sort of just counsel your doctor and get their advice.
Host: So, tell me, can only women get breast cancer?
Dr. Brennan: Both women and men can get breast cancer. You know, some people think that only women get breast cancer because women are the only ones who have breasts, but in fact, men to get breast cancer because they do have breast tissue. It's about 1% of all breast cancers diagnosed in the United States every year. And this year, upwards of 2,600 men will be diagnosed with the disease. But what happens is that men, when they have breast changes or chest changes or skin changes there, they don't tend to go to the doctor because they don't think of it. They wouldn't think that it would be maybe a breast cancer. So often they're diagnosed at a later stage. So what would be important is that men need to go see their doctor if they have changes there. And male breast is one of the indicators for genetic testing as well, since it's so uncommon, that would be somebody that we would send for genetic testing.
Host: Is there anything that one can do to lower your risk of breast cancer?
Dr. Brennan: There's lots of things, both for people who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and for the people in the general public who wants to decrease their cancer risk. We didn't use to concentrate so much on these things, but we found in our research that there are lots of things that people can do to decrease their chance of getting cancer, especially breast cancer, things like keeping your weight in check, maintaining a healthy weight is an important goal for everybody being overweight can not only increase your risk of heart disease and stroke, but it can increase your risk of many cancers, including breast cancer, especially after menopause for women, you can be physically active. Regular exercise is one of the best ways to help keep your weight in check. But also women who are physically active for at least 150 minutes a week, which breaks down to like 20 minutes a day, 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes at night, you just take a walk or any kind of physical activity, gardening, riding a bike.
Anything. 150 minutes a week of exercise gives you a lower risk of breast cancer or breast cancer recurrence if you've already been diagnosed. People can maintain a healthy diet, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can lower your risk of breast cancer and keeping alcohol at moderate levels, moderate, meaning a drink a day or less. If you talk about the American Society of Clinical Oncology, often they'll say that no amount of alcohol is safe and other cancer research organizations will say a drink a day or less in moderation is sort of allowable. And of course, I think everybody at this point is aware that everybody's recommendation is not to smoke.
Host: What about something like coffee or other things like that?
Dr. Brennan: Yeah. I think everything in moderation at that point, I think coffee is okay, caffeine, you know, a cup a day is fine, but if you're somebody who's drinking it with every meal and having it several times a day, I think that's to access. But I think that we haven't really found that coffee is something that's going to increase a risk.
Host: If you've had breast cancer, since we're talking about diet, is it true for example, that you can't eat soy anymore?
Dr. Brennan: We used to think that not true, but soy contains something called isoflavones, which are plant estrogens and high levels of estrogens have been linked to increased risk of breast cancer. And some breast cancers are estrogen driven. So we used to be concerned if women ate soy, that it was going to drive a breast cancer, either growth or development. But now we know that a lifelong diet rich in soy foods actually can reduce the risk of breast cancer in women. However, if woman start to eat a lot of soy later in life, we know that that doesn't correlate to a decreased risk of breast cancer if you start at later. However, a moderate amount of soy would be one to two servings, a day of whole soil, food such as tofu, soy milk, or atamamai soy or isoflavones supplements however, have a much higher level of these ISIS labels or plant estrogens. And we don't know if those are safe. So while eating the whole soy foods like tofu or soy milk, those are fine taking a supplement like a pill or liquid. We don't know if that's safe. So I would avoid those.
Host: Advice on ways to up your chances so that you don't get breast cancer?
Dr. Brennan: You know, I think the best thing that you can do really is just to the healthy lifestyle. We can't say enough about that. Now, you know, fruits and vegetables are your friend. I think fruits and vegetables, staying really active and getting your mammograms every year, self breast exams, just knowing what your breasts feel like. So that if you detect a change, immediately bring it to the doctor and get it checked out. And for women, who've had breast cancer, keeping up with your regular care senior oncologist and just being vigilant with any changes in your body, go see your doctor, stay in communication with your healthcare practitioners, let us know what's going on. I think these are the things. Talk to your friends, make sure they're getting their care. If we can form this community, we can help each other. The best thing you can do.
Host: So much Dr. Brennan for joining me today.
Dr. Brennan: You're welcome. It was my pleasure. Anything we can do to get the word out, to keep people healthy.
Host: Dr. Kimberly Brennan is an oncologist at the Mass General Cancer Center at Emerson Hospital. For more information on breast cancer, please visit Emersonhospital.org/breasthealth. Thanks for listening to Emerson's Health Works Here Podcast. This episode is part of a series on breast cancer. Make sure to catch all the episodes by subscribing to The Health Works Here Podcast on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify, or wherever podcasts can be heard. I'm Alyne Ellis. Thanks for listening.
Alyne Ellis: Are you at risk for breast cancer, who has the highest risk? And what can you do to lower your chances here to tell us more as Dr. Kimberly Brennan, an Oncologist at the Mass General Cancer Center at Emerson Hospital. This is the Health Works Here Podcast from Emerson Hospital. I'm Alyne Ellis. Thanks so much Dr. Brennan for joining me today.
Dr. Brennan: You're welcome. I'm happy to be here.
Host: So first off, if you don't have a family history of breast cancer, can you still get it?
Dr. Brennan: You can, actually, most people diagnosed with breast cancer, have no known family history. Most of the people that we see have what's called a sporadic form of breast cancer. What we find is that only about five to 10% of people are the people who have a genetic form of breast cancer. When we do genetic testing, it's only about like I said, five to 10% that turn up and have a genetic mutation. And when we do genetic testing, there's certain criteria that we look for in order to trigger that testing. And for people who have breast cancer or are newly diagnosed with breast cancer or other cancers, you should talk to your doctor about whether or not you are somebody who should be tested. If you're somebody in the community who has a strong family history of breast cancer, but you don't have breast cancer yourself, you can ask your primary care doctor. If you're somebody who should get tested, things to look for are a strong family history of breast cancer, or somebody in your family with ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, a strong family history of prostate cancer. Anybody who's under the age of 45 with their first diagnosis of breast cancer or ovarian cancer, anybody who's had a breast cancer called triple negative breast cancer. And they were diagnosed under the age of 60. Anybody who's of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry and has had a diagnosis of cancer. There's lots of criteria that we look for. It's always best to sort of just counsel your doctor and get their advice.
Host: So, tell me, can only women get breast cancer?
Dr. Brennan: Both women and men can get breast cancer. You know, some people think that only women get breast cancer because women are the only ones who have breasts, but in fact, men to get breast cancer because they do have breast tissue. It's about 1% of all breast cancers diagnosed in the United States every year. And this year, upwards of 2,600 men will be diagnosed with the disease. But what happens is that men, when they have breast changes or chest changes or skin changes there, they don't tend to go to the doctor because they don't think of it. They wouldn't think that it would be maybe a breast cancer. So often they're diagnosed at a later stage. So what would be important is that men need to go see their doctor if they have changes there. And male breast is one of the indicators for genetic testing as well, since it's so uncommon, that would be somebody that we would send for genetic testing.
Host: Is there anything that one can do to lower your risk of breast cancer?
Dr. Brennan: There's lots of things, both for people who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and for the people in the general public who wants to decrease their cancer risk. We didn't use to concentrate so much on these things, but we found in our research that there are lots of things that people can do to decrease their chance of getting cancer, especially breast cancer, things like keeping your weight in check, maintaining a healthy weight is an important goal for everybody being overweight can not only increase your risk of heart disease and stroke, but it can increase your risk of many cancers, including breast cancer, especially after menopause for women, you can be physically active. Regular exercise is one of the best ways to help keep your weight in check. But also women who are physically active for at least 150 minutes a week, which breaks down to like 20 minutes a day, 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes at night, you just take a walk or any kind of physical activity, gardening, riding a bike.
Anything. 150 minutes a week of exercise gives you a lower risk of breast cancer or breast cancer recurrence if you've already been diagnosed. People can maintain a healthy diet, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can lower your risk of breast cancer and keeping alcohol at moderate levels, moderate, meaning a drink a day or less. If you talk about the American Society of Clinical Oncology, often they'll say that no amount of alcohol is safe and other cancer research organizations will say a drink a day or less in moderation is sort of allowable. And of course, I think everybody at this point is aware that everybody's recommendation is not to smoke.
Host: What about something like coffee or other things like that?
Dr. Brennan: Yeah. I think everything in moderation at that point, I think coffee is okay, caffeine, you know, a cup a day is fine, but if you're somebody who's drinking it with every meal and having it several times a day, I think that's to access. But I think that we haven't really found that coffee is something that's going to increase a risk.
Host: If you've had breast cancer, since we're talking about diet, is it true for example, that you can't eat soy anymore?
Dr. Brennan: We used to think that not true, but soy contains something called isoflavones, which are plant estrogens and high levels of estrogens have been linked to increased risk of breast cancer. And some breast cancers are estrogen driven. So we used to be concerned if women ate soy, that it was going to drive a breast cancer, either growth or development. But now we know that a lifelong diet rich in soy foods actually can reduce the risk of breast cancer in women. However, if woman start to eat a lot of soy later in life, we know that that doesn't correlate to a decreased risk of breast cancer if you start at later. However, a moderate amount of soy would be one to two servings, a day of whole soil, food such as tofu, soy milk, or atamamai soy or isoflavones supplements however, have a much higher level of these ISIS labels or plant estrogens. And we don't know if those are safe. So while eating the whole soy foods like tofu or soy milk, those are fine taking a supplement like a pill or liquid. We don't know if that's safe. So I would avoid those.
Host: Advice on ways to up your chances so that you don't get breast cancer?
Dr. Brennan: You know, I think the best thing that you can do really is just to the healthy lifestyle. We can't say enough about that. Now, you know, fruits and vegetables are your friend. I think fruits and vegetables, staying really active and getting your mammograms every year, self breast exams, just knowing what your breasts feel like. So that if you detect a change, immediately bring it to the doctor and get it checked out. And for women, who've had breast cancer, keeping up with your regular care senior oncologist and just being vigilant with any changes in your body, go see your doctor, stay in communication with your healthcare practitioners, let us know what's going on. I think these are the things. Talk to your friends, make sure they're getting their care. If we can form this community, we can help each other. The best thing you can do.
Host: So much Dr. Brennan for joining me today.
Dr. Brennan: You're welcome. It was my pleasure. Anything we can do to get the word out, to keep people healthy.
Host: Dr. Kimberly Brennan is an oncologist at the Mass General Cancer Center at Emerson Hospital. For more information on breast cancer, please visit Emersonhospital.org/breasthealth. Thanks for listening to Emerson's Health Works Here Podcast. This episode is part of a series on breast cancer. Make sure to catch all the episodes by subscribing to The Health Works Here Podcast on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify, or wherever podcasts can be heard. I'm Alyne Ellis. Thanks for listening.