
Training for last 2 weeks: ran 65 miles total, walked 5.
GENES AND CANCER
BRCA1 and BRCA2. Lay description: mutation of genes that normally furnish proteins that destroy breast cancer cells, removing this normal protection. If women have them, this leaves them open to from a 55% to 65% chance of getting breast cancer, our #4 killer. Angelina Jolie recently had
mastectomies because she had these genes, and said she reduced her chances from 87% to 5% thereby. (Confusing figures).
I believe the 55 to 65 percentage is a simple statistical American figure. The incidence of breast cancer is high in the US, compared to dietarily different countries, like Japan.
A few years ago there was an American study showing that African-American men over 55 had much more prostate cancer than white men of that age group. The natural implication is that it's
because of their racial differences. However, people are not the same as laboratory mice or rats, which are bred most carefully to be absolutely as identical with each other as possible. I believe it is likely that diet may be the principal deciding factor and the stresses of life a secondary one, rather than race. It may be that if the feed and stress were reversed, the whites would get more prostate cancer than the African-Americans.
Likewise, the breast cancer 55 to 65 percentage might grossly diminish if we implement a disease
preventive lifestyle like LifeNuts. Diet and exercise! Please consult the Nutrition Guide for
Clinicians, 2009, pages 172 - 187. Also be aware that women who have been sexually abused (at least 1 in 4 women have been) have a higher than average risk for many diseases.That kind of stress can be fatal.
The October 8th New York Times carried an article called Weighing Preventive Surgeries which reported that your BRCA genes also decide that ovarian cancer has a 40% to 60% likelihood for you: so maybe you should have ovaries removed. Uterine cancer is somehow related. The article discussed all possible options: Fallopian tubes, hysterectomies, surgical menopause. There was no conclusion. Just confusion.
NOTHING ABOUT PREVENTION. NOTHING ABOUT DIET AND EXERCISE. NOTHING ABOUT STRESS MANAGEMENT.
Is it possible that doctors only understand prevention if it involves surgery? LifeNuts stresses personal responsibility in the areas of health, diet, exercise, and stress management. To ignore these aspects of life or to assign them to someone or something else usually means trouble.