The article of the month of October – The preventive treatment of breast cancer, Dr. Hertoghe

The pink October, or breast cancer awareness month and fundraising for research, is coming to an end and I want to share with you the different means of prevention, treatments during and after cancer.

+ Prevention – Mens sana in corpore sano

The first way to keep the disease away is to adopt an anti-cancer diet. A regular intake of fresh (and organic) fruits and vegetables is one of the most protective ways to prevent cancer. On average, a diet composed of at least 400 g of fruits and vegetables per day reduces the risk of cancer by about 20 to 30%. You should also avoid cooking at high temperatures. Why? Because fats become toxic at high temperatures (any cooking above 85 ° Celsius). Food cooked in fat at a high temperature (between 170 and 250 ° C) increases the risk of breast cancer by up to two times, to a maximum of four.

Doing a regular physical activity (at least 30 minutes a day, 5 times a week) seems to significantly reduce the risk of colon and breast cancer. For breast cancer, sports may reduce the risk by 30% compared to inactive women (even more so in case of obesity).

Find serenity! The risk of cancer is 20 to 100% higher in anxious people. Some particularly negative feelings may be likely to promote the appearance of tumors: the feeling of helplessness over things, anxiety, loneliness and guilt.

+ Prevention – The right hormonal balance

To avoid breast cancer, it is important to have a good balance between female hormones: estrogen (responsible for the development of secondary sex characteristics and the menstrual cycle) and progesterone (involved in the menstrual cycle and pregnancy).

It is important to pay attention to your pain. The appearance of breast cancer is favored by the presence of recurrent breast pain. A woman who has regular breast pain for more than five years doubles her risk of breast cancer, a risk that gradually increases with years of pain. To prevent cancer, it is therefore not enough to take bio-identical hormones that are well adapted to the human body. It is also important to take the right doses. If a patient complains of breast pain, I adjust the dose of estrogen (which promotes breast swelling) and increase the dose of progesterone (which protects from pain by deflating the breast). It’s all about balance.

+ Treatment during and after cancer – A harmony between nutrition and hormones

Standard anticancer treatments, from surgery to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, remain useful and often preponderant in curing cancer or at least treating it in the best possible way. Nutritional and hormonal supplementation is essential to boost the immunity of the patient.

| In addition to following the hormone diet, it is important to take nutritional supplements: coenzyme Q10 (more active ubiquinol form) to enhance immunity while counteracting the proliferation of cancer cells, selenium, magnesium, vitamins A, C (liposomal) and D.

| On the hormonal level it is imperative to establish the hormonal profile. Very often, the supplementation of thyroid hormones (combining the thyroid hormones T3 & T4) will give better results of stimulation of the immunity and quality of life. Melatonin also appears to be a treatment that may have anticancer effects. If a deficiency is detected and treated, it will help fight cancer more effectively.
In later phases, other hormonal treatments may be prescribed depending on the deficiencies found. The majority of studies show a decrease in recurrences (between 30% and 50%) and mortality (between 20% and 80%) in people who take female hormones after breast cancer.