{"id":40820,"date":"2017-08-16T06:31:37","date_gmt":"2017-08-16T06:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=40820"},"modified":"2017-08-16T06:31:37","modified_gmt":"2017-08-16T06:31:37","slug":"can-endocrine-disruptors-elevate-risk-of-breast-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/health\/can-endocrine-disruptors-elevate-risk-of-breast-cancer.html","title":{"rendered":"Can Endocrine Disruptors Elevate Risk of Breast Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can Endocrine Disruptors Elevate Risk of Breast Cancer<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Can Endocrine Disruptors Elevate Risk of Breast Cancer:- The American Cancer Society reports that the median age when patients are diagnosed with breast cancer is 61. This means that half of all cases of breast cancer occur in people younger than 61, and half occur in people older than 61. Although breast cancer is considered a disease of aging, in some cases, exposure to certain compounds in the environment while we\u2019re still developing in the womb could flip the switch that turns mutated cells into breast cancer later in life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Ana Soto, professor of integrative physiology and pathobiology at Tufts University Medical School in Boston, has studied the effect of various so-called endocrine disruptors \u2013 chemicals that we\u2019re exposed to throughout our lifetimes that may disrupt the hormonal balance in the body and create the right environment for cancer development. She says these chemicals include synthetic estrogens like estrogen diethylstilbestrol; DDT, a formerly widely-used insecticide; and bisphenol A, a component of many plastics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Breastcancer.org reports that \u201chormone disruptors can affect how estrogen and other hormones act in the body, by blocking them or mimicking them, which throws off the body\u2019s hormonal balance.\u201d This imbalance may lead to the development of cancer later in life, Soto says, because \u201cchemicals that affect mammary gland development may also increase the propensity to develop breast cancer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Estrogen Diethylstilbestrol<\/span><\/p>\n

The American Cancer Society reports that estrogen diethylstilbestrol was prescribed to pregnant women between 1938 and 1971, as it was believed to help prevent miscarriages and premature births. The ACS estimates that some five to 10 million people may have been exposed to the drug including mothers who were prescribed the drug and the children they were pregnant with while taking the drug. \u201cOnly those children who were in the womb at the time their mothers took DES were exposed to it. Brothers or sisters from pregnancies during which DES was not taken were not exposed,\u201d the ACS reports.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prescribing doctors didn\u2019t know at the time that the drug was potentially dangerous, and the connection between cancer and DES only came to light when a group of seven girls in one town were all diagnosed with a very rare form of vaginal cancer in 1971. Soto says the drug was \u201cgiven for the purpose of preventing miscarriages, although it was proven to be ineffective in this regard.\u201d DES also increased the chances of babies born to DES mothers developing several types of cancer, including breast cancer, later in life.<\/span><\/p>\n

When these women who\u2019d been exposed to the estrogen diethylstilbestrol reached their 40s and started being screened for breast cancer, the incidence of breast cancer increased compared to controls who hadn\u2019t been exposed, she says. \u201cSo we know [when the fetus is developing] is an area of vulnerability.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Soto says other windows of vulnerability occur around puberty and around the time of menopause. \u201cBut I think that we can say practically, for different reasons, the mammary gland is sensitive to carcinogens throughout life. There are times that it\u2019s more vulnerable to some insults,\u201d such as when the fetus is developing and early childhood.<\/span><\/p>\n

DDT<\/span><\/p>\n

These windows of vulnerability also exist for other chemicals in the environment. The once ubiquitous insecticide DDT is another substance believed to cause breast cancer. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that DDT was so effective in reducing the population of mosquitoes (and reducing the transmission of malaria beginning in the 1940s) that it was sprayed widely across the United States until the USDA banned its use in 1972. A 2015 study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism suggested that exposure to DDT could quadruple a woman\u2019s risk of developing breast cancer by age 52.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/health.usnews.com\/health-care\/patient-advice\/articles\/2017-08-15\/can-endocrine-disruptors-elevate-risk-of-breast-cancer<\/span><\/p>\n

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