Can Mother Nature STOP Breast Cancer?
Despite the massive push for women to get mammograms, breast cancer remains the second most common cancer among women.
Clearly, we have a long way to go.
One major way to put a dent in those numbers is to find out key factors that reduce breast cancer risk.
After all, catching a breast cancer early is good… but never getting it in the first place is definitely better.
Now, researchers have found that Mother Nature has provided us with an all-natural and easy way to SLASH your breast cancer risk…
In a study published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine, researchers studied 38,000 women with breast cancer, and another 191,000 matched controls.
The researchers assessed numerous risk factors for breast cancer, including socioeconomic status, number of births, and employment information.
Then they categorized every job according to how much UV exposure a worker typically experiences at that job.
Next, they used a metric to determine lifetime UV exposure from work.
Basically… time spent in the sun.
The results showed that women with at least 20 years of UV exposure at work had a 15 percent lower odds of developing breast cancer.
Women over 50 had an additional 2 percent lower odds.
And women over 50 who were in the top quarter of sun exposure had an 11 percent lower risk of developing breast cancer.
This study didn’t examine why that connection existed, but the authors had their guesses… and so do I.
And it’s all about vitamin D.
Spending plenty of time in the sun will help ensure that you have adequate vitamin D levels, something that studies continually tie to a lower risk of multiple types of cancer—including breast cancer.
(On the flip side of things, working indoors and not getting enough sun has been tied to a HIGHER risk of cancer.)
The second factor to consider is circadian rhythm.
Getting sun throughout the day helps set your body’s circadian rhythm. And although this is a relatively new field of study, it has become clear that a disruption in your circadian rhythm increases your cancer risk.
So what do you do if you don’t work outside? It’s simple.
- Make sure you’re getting plenty of vitamin D.
- Take steps to fix your circadian rhythm by getting plenty of morning and afternoon sun, and avoiding blue light at night.
P.S. If breast cancer is a concern for you or a loved one, you’ll want to go here and read about the anti-breast cancer diet that was recently discovered.
