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What is your risk for breast or prostate cancer?

As we age, women have a continuously increasing risk of developing breast cancer. Many women are either in fear that they may be next, or trying not to think about it, as they live their lives the best they can. One out of eight women will develop breast cancer. While that may sound frightening, the good news is that seven out of eight will not. Some of us are at higher risk than others and need to take immediate action to lower our risk. How do you know into which group you fall? Have you calculated your risk?

Some may not want to know their risk, mistakenly believing that nothing can be done to help. Please know that whatever the results of your risk evaluation, you can reduce your risk and improve your odds.

Our bodies, men's included, produce estrogen in a variety of forms: E1, E2 and E3. E1 is broken down into 2 hydroxyestrone and 16 alphahydroxyestrone. On the good side, 16 alphahydroxyestrone helps build strong bones. However in excess, it increases risk of developing cancer of the breast, ovary, and uterus in women, and the prostate in men. The 2 hydroxyestrone decreases risk. These two forms must maintain an optimal balance.

There is a simple urine test to determine the ratio of 2:16 hydroxyestrone. This test is FDA approved, and has been in use for the past 25 years. Because it usually takes 50 years for mainstream medicine to embrace anything different, your medical doctor may not yet know the value of this test. The information derived from the 2:16 test will benefit every woman and man past the age of puberty. (The fastest growing segment of the population to develop breast cancer is women between the ages of 20 and 30.)

You may feel that because you receive mammograms on a regular basis, you don't need to do another test. Please be aware that mammograms have their limits. They cannot detect a problem until your breast tissue has undergone possibly dangerous changes. The survival rate of women with breast cancer has not improved since the inception of mammograms. And each time you have a mammogram you expose your breasts to focused X-radiation that actually contributes to the development of cancer.

Another diagnostic tool, thermography, has been used extensively in Europe and is gaining popularity in the United States. Although less invasive than mammograms, it is similar in that thermography cannot register problems until possibly dangerous changes have already occurred.

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The British Journal of Cancer in 1998 reported on a population of women who had been evaluated for 2:16 hydroxyestrone. They found that the women who developed breast cancer had shown abnormal levels for an average of 10 years (some for as long as 19 years) before breast cancer appeared with current diagnostic techniques. Neither of these tools, mammography or thermography is without merit, nor should they be eliminated as diagnostic tools. Rather they should be used in conjunction with the 2:16 hydroxyestrone test for early detection of dangerous estrogen metabolites.

Prostate tissue in men is sensitive to the estrogen produced by their bodies. Current research indicates that men with a 2:16 ratio less than 2 are also at risk for developing cancer. The PSA test, a screen for prostate cancer recommended for all men 50 years and older, has recently been questioned as a valid screening tool because too many false positives are reported. False positive tests lead to unnecessary procedures and/or medications that could lead to impotence.

Cancer is usually a slow growing disease. Wouldn't it be better to know now, when you can more easily make a difference, that your body has the chemistry that produces cancer? Why wait for the cancer to develop and then try to get rid of it?

If your risk is high, we will work with you to reduce your risk of developing cancer of the breast, ovaries, uterus and prostate. Diet and lifestyle changes with specific nutritional supplementation hold the key. Why wait to become the next statistic? Too many of us are dying too young. Call for an appointment. We will help you reduce your cancer risk.