A 58 year old woman came to see me regarding the health of her breasts as she had recently had a lump removed from her left breast. Initially she had had a mammogram which was normal and showed no signs of cancer; however she was worried because her left breast was tender and felt generally lumpy. Luckily her local doctor was switched on and he had ordered an ultrasound scan of her breasts. This scan revealed a tumour, which was irregular in shape and slightly cystic. She was referred to a specialist for a biopsy of the tumour. The biopsy was sent off to a pathologist who found that the tissue sampled in the biopsy looked suspicious. Thus this patient had the lump removed by a breast surgeon and when the lump was examined by the pathologist the report came back negative for cancer. This woman was very lucky but she was still not out of the woods. This was because the pathology report of the tissues in the breast tumour found that there were some unstable cells described as dysplastic. The word dysplasia describes cells that are slightly abnormal and unstable in that they can change to become pre-cancerous. This patient came to see me as she believed that her tumour had been caused by high oestrogen levels produced in her body and she was wondering if progesterone could improve her breasts. The patient had always had tender lumpy breasts and this condition is called fibrocystic breast disease. I advised her that it was not appropriate to prescribe progesterone as she was now post-menopausal and we did not know if there were progesterone receptors in her unstable cells. This woman was significantly overweight with a body weight of 74 kilograms and a height of 164cms; this put her Body Mass Index at 27.4. The Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure of ideal body weight for height and in women the BMI should be less than 26. She did not do any regular exercise and had a diet that was too high in carbohydrates for her level of physical activity. Her diet lacked anti-oxidants as she did not eat the required 6 to 8 daily servings of fresh fruits and vegetables. She drank 3 glasses of wine every night. The patient did not understand the risk factors for breast cancer and believed that breast cancer could be prevented by progesterone. I explained that her risk of breast cancer was increased by the following factors – A BMI over 25 – which means that she was overweight A lack of exercise A lack of anti-oxidants such as vitamin C and selenium Drinking more than one glass of alcohol daily I gave her a program to reduce the risk of breast cancer and to heal her fibrocystic breasts. This consisted of the following – An exercise program Reduction of alcohol consumption Daily raw juicing of vegetables to boost her intake of concentrated anti-oxidants A low carbohydrate eating plan which excluded sugar and foods that contained refined flour – thus I excluded pastries, cakes, biscuits, most breads, packaged cereals, pasta, noodles, donuts, muffins etc Increased intake of protein from eggs, nuts, seeds, seafood, yogurt, lean fresh meats Increased intake of legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas), raw nuts and seeds Increased intake of fresh vegetable salads Increased intake of citrus fruits and a vitamin C supplement A herbal Detox tablet to remove toxins from her breasts and lymph nodes A supplement of selenium (selenomethionine in a dose of 200mcg daily); there is a huge amount of research showing that selenium prevents breast cancer in women with fibrocystic breast disease. The take home messages from this case history are – Mammograms are not 100% accurate and may need to be complemented by an ultrasound scan of the breasts Trust your instincts and if you are not happy seek further investigation Most people do not understand the risk factors for cancer