Women’s Health Week: How Lifestyle Choices Can Impact Breast Cancer Risk and Recurrence

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can provide many benefits, including the potential to lower a person’s risk of developing breast cancer.

About one in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime, making breast cancer one of the most common diseases affecting women in the U.S. While about 5-10 percent of breast cancer cases in the U.S. are related to an inherited gene mutation, most cases are linked to other factors – including lifestyle.

Alcohol consumption, physical activity, eating fruits and vegetables and smoking all play a role in a person’s overall health and their risk of developing diseases. These same behaviors may affect survivorship for those who have been through breast cancer and whether the disease returns.

Susan G. Komen’s Facebook Live, “Be Well: Healthy Living and Breast Cancer” addressed the role weight and diet can play in reducing the risk of breast cancer, improving survival and reducing the risk of breast cancer returning.