Experts: Third of breast cancer is avoidable

Up to a third of breast cancer cases in Western countries could be avoided if women ate less and exercised more, researchers at a breast cancer conference said Thursday - comments that could ignite heated discussions among victims and advocates.

Many breast cancers are fueled by estrogen, a hormone produced in fat tissue. So experts suspect that the fatter a woman is, the more estrogen she's likely to produce, which could in turn spark breast cancer. Even in slim women, exercise can help reduce the cancer risk by converting more of the body's fat into muscle.

Bizarre Breast Cancer Ads

And the winner of the most sexist breast-cancer campaign is....

A letter sent to (mostly male) company directors at a hospital in Poland urged male managers to encourage their female employees to get mammograms. Sounds like a good plan, except the letter contained the campaign slogan, "I check the breasts of my employees myself." Feminist groups in Poland say the slogan is inviting sexual harassment. Whoops.

Check out more breast cancer-awareness ads that think far outside the bra.
(Sometimes too far ....)

Would You Pay $20 for Access to a Breast Cancer Cure?

It seems safe to describe Andrew Hessel as an unbridled optimist. After all, he’s selling $20 shares in a journey toward a personalized cure for breast cancer, which he says could be feasible in the next few years.

Mr. Hessel serves as the managing director of the Pink Army Cooperative. This Canadian organization has set out to lower the cost of cancer treatments while also making them more effective by embracing a new wave of synthetic biology technology (a field that was recently the subject of a piece in The New York Times Magazine).

Asians differ when it comes to rates of disease

Breast cancer has long been considered less of a problem for Asian women than for any other ethnic group. That's true for Asian women as a group, but when Bay Area researcher Scarlett Lin Gomez divided Asians into different nationalities, she found that Japanese women have rates of disease similar to white women.

Free sports prostheses for breast cancer patients

Cancer patients in Wales who request a specialist sports prosthesis following breast surgery are to receive it free on the NHS.

Breast cancer incidence among Iraqi women profiled

Breast cancer continues to rise in Iraq, and scientists have established the Iraqi National Cancer Research Program to better understand the underlying molecular and environmental causes in an effort to curb the incidence of cancer.

The couple who both beat breast cancer

The chances of a husband and wife both being struck by breast cancer have never be calculated, but Tim and Gisela are the only known couple in the UK.

Freezing Technique May Stop Breast Cancer

Freezing breast tumors helped stop the spread of the cancer in mice, a new study has found.

Bare boobs battle breast cancer

Hundreds of women across the country are baring their breasts for a new project to support breast health.

“b for a cure,” the brainchild of San Francisco photographer Peter Bruce, will compile black and white photographs of more than 300 women’s breasts in a coffee table-style book, with proceeds going to breast-health charities.

HPB commissions movie with breast cancer as theme

The Health Promotion Board (HPB) is hoping a movie will encourage more Singaporean women to go for regular breast cancer screening.

With this aim in mind, it is collaborating on a movie project which captures the story of a 40-year-old mother battling terminal breast cancer.