The Florida Lung, Asthma & Sleep Specialists are turning October pink! We have joined the breast cancer awareness movement with the customary pink ribbons, and public information awareness about the diagnosis, treatment, research and risks of Breast Cancer.

As you may know, the Florida Lung Doctors are very strong advocates of preventative medicine. We believe that our patients should be well-informed about proactive behaviors that lessen the risks for diseases.  In this blog, you will discover why the Florida Lung Doctors want you to think about your lungs as well as your breasts when you see those pink ribbons.

We know there are many risk factors for breast cancer that are difficult to circumnavigate. It is very difficult to fight genetic and environmental breast cancer risks, but the experts have also identified personal lifestyle choices that can diminish your risk of breast cancer.

Live Green and Think Pink!

In fact there is a movement sponsored by Breast Cancer.org that lists 31 ways to adapt your personal lifestyle to minimize your breast cancer risks.

Among their top strategies for minimizing breast cancer risks with lifestyle choices are:

  •  Limit your body mass.
  •  Eat a healthy diet.
  •  Avoid hormone replacement therapy.
  •  Limit alcohol.
  •  Avoid smoking.

Naturally, because we are the lung doctors, we are especially fond of the life style choice to stop smoking and avoid second-hand smoke. With this one lifestyle choice you will limit your risks for breast cancer and lung cancer, COPD, and a host of other health difficulties.

With this one healthy choice, you can protect both your breasts and your lungs! We are bringing you the absolutely most recent facts about the relationship between breast cancer and smoking.

On February 28, 2013 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, research conducted on 73,388 women was published in the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS-II) Nutrition Cohort. The scientists followed the lives of these women for over 13 years. The data revealed 3,721 cases of invasive breast cancer.

One of the most stunning statistics to emerge from the study was the “rate of new cases was 24% higher in smokers than in non-smokers, and 13% higher in former smokers than in non-smokers.”

Points To Ponder: Risky Business

1. Young Smokers: The scientists discovered that the breast cancer risk increases more when smoking starts early in a woman’s life.

2. The Numbers: A startling finding was that girls who started smoking before their first menstrual cycle had a 61% higher risk for breast cancer.

3. Another Dangerous Age: There was a 45% higher risk found for those women “who started smoking after their first cycle, but 11 or more years before having a child.” Likewise, they found a 21% increase in risk among women who took up the smoking habit before the birth of their first child.

Mia Gaudet, PhD, American Cancer Society Director of Genetic Epidemiology, explained that breast tissue is not fully developed until after a woman has her first child, and that makes it more sensitive to the harmful effects of tobacco.”

What’s Good For Breasts Is Good For Lungs

When women smoke, they increase their risk of lung cancer even more than breast cancer. “In the US, tobacco use is responsible for nearly 1 in 5 deaths; this equals about 443,000 early deaths each year.”

Do you realize that this means that half of all people who are smoking at the present will die from a tobacco-related disease? The risk for lung cancer specifically is 13 times greater for a woman who smokes than a women who does not use tobacco.

The moral of the story is that, if you are a woman who smokes in October 2013, make quitting part of your Breast Cancer Awareness celebration. Your lungs will thank you!

We thank you for reading our blog, and we wish you a happy October with bunches of Fall leaves tied with dozens of awareness pink ribbons for hope and survival.